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INDIAN NOTES

AND Itf-

MONOGRAPHS

IX-X

•4

MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN

INDIAN NOTES AND MONOGRAPHS

*f*

A SERIES OF PUBLICA- TIONS RELATING TO THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES

VOL. IX, No. 1

NEW YORK

MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN

HEYE FOUNDATION

1920

Publications of the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation

THE GEORGE G. HEYE EXPEDITION CONTRIBUTIONS TO SOUTH AMER- j ICAN ARCHEOLOGY Vol. 1

The Antiquities of Manabi, Ecuador: A Pre- liminary Report. By Marshall H. Saville. 1907. $25.00.

Vol. 2

The Antiquities of Manabi, Ecuador: Final Report. By Marshall H. Saville. 1910. $25.00.

CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM

OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN,

HEYE FOUNDATION

Vol. 1

No. 1: Lucayan Artifacts fromjhe Bahamas. By Theodoor de Booy. Reprinted from Amer. Anthropoid Vol. 15, 1913, No. 1. 50c.

No. 2: Precolumbian Decoration of the Teeth in Ecuador, with some Account of the Oc- currence of the Custom in other parts of North and South America. By Marshall H. Saville. Reprinted from Amer. Anthropoid Vol. 15, 1913, No. 3. 50c.

No. 3: Certain Kitchen-middens in Jamaica. By Theodoor de Booy. Reprinted from Amer. Anthropol.,Vo\. 15, 1913, No. 3. (Re- printed, 1919.) 50c.

No. 4: Porto Rican Elbow-stones in the Heye Museum, with discussion of similar objects elsewhere. By J. Walter Fewkes. Reprinted from Amer. Anthropoid Vol. 15, 1913, No. 3. 50c

INDIAN NOTES AND MONOGRAPHS

A SERIES OF PUBLICA- TIONS RELATING TO THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES

VOL. IX, No. 1

NEW YORK

MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN

HEYE FOUNDATION

1920

THE EARLIEST NOTICES

CONCERNING THE

CONQUEST OF MEXICO

BY CORTES IN 1519

BY

MARSHALL H. SAVILLE

THE EARLIEST NOTICES CON- CERNING THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO BY CORTES IN 1519

By Marshall H. Saville

N the 10th of February, 1519, Hernan Cortes set sail from Cuba for Yucatan and the coast of the present state of Vera Cruz, Mexico, to follow up the discoveries of a new country made respec- tively in 1 517 by Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba1 and in 1518 by Juan de Grijalva.2 Cortes arrived at the island of San Juan Ulua on Thursday, April 21, 1 5 19. Bernal Diaz, one of the com- panions of Cortes and a member of the two previous expeditions, wrote about the landing as follows:

"The next day, which was Good Friday, we disembarked with the horses and guns, on some sand hills, which rise to a considerable height,

INDIAN NOTES

CONQUEST BY CORTES

for there was no level land, nothing but sand dunes; and the artillery man Mesa placed the guns in position to the best of his judgment. Then we set up an altar, where mass was said, and we made huts and shelters for Cortes and the captains, and three hundred of the soldiers brought wood and made houses for themselves, and we placed the horses where they would be safe, and in this way Good Friday was passed." 3

In a few days Cortes received a great number of presents through the mes- sengers and subject chiefs of Montezuma, among them being two great discs, more than six feet in diameter, one of gold and the other of silver.4

Within a short time Cortes sent Fran- cisco de Montejo on an exploring expedi- tion up the coast, and on his return he reported finding a better place for head- quarters, where there was a port sheltered from the north winds. Some time during May or June (the exact date has not been determined) the entire party removed to this region, and preparations were made to establish a permanent town. This was soon accomplished, and the settle- ment was given the name of Villa Rica

IX

INDIAN NOTES

NEW SEVILLE

de la Vera Cruz.5 It was close to the Indian town of Quiahuiztlan, which was called the port of Archidona.6 Not far distant was the important city of Cempo- alla, the chief settlement of the region, occupied by Indians of the Totonacan stock. Cortes gave it the name of New Seville.7 The inhabitants of this part of the country were at that time under the subjection of Montezuma, and be- cause of excesses of the Aztecan tribute- gatherers, they became willing allies of the Spaniards.

Cortes resolved to send to Spain a report of his discoveries, along with the presents he had received. He wrote a long letter, which has not come to light; the authorities of the new town also pre- pared an extended report, together with an inventory of the treasure,8 and Alonso Portocarrero and Francisco de Montejo were chosen to take charge of the ship in which were to go six Indians, to show the King what manner of people in- habited the new land. The little vessel left Mexico, July 16; a stop was made in

AND MONOGRAPHS

8

CONQUEST BY CORTES

Cuba, contrary to the definite orders of Cortes, and the ship finally arrived in Seville, November 5, 1519, nearly four months after the departure from Mexico. The arrival of the treasure ship imme- diately excited those who saw the wonder- ful objects and heard the reports of the cities with stone buildings, paved streets, and public squares. No doubt many letters were written by those who had remained behind in the new town, and those in Spain who talked with the sailors were not long in spreading the news. The object of this paper is to call atten- tion to several letters of this character. In 1866, Frederick Muller, the book- seller in Amsterdam, received in a pur- chase of books from a great Austrian library, a precious little manuscript, containing three letters written in Ger- man, relating to the conquest of Mexico in 1 5 19 by Hernan Cortes. It consisted of two folio sheets folded into eight pages, probably taken from an old account book, and was wrapped in a page of ancient music, with a pasteboard cover. Two

IX

INDIAN NOTES

THE GERMAN LETTERS	9
pages are blank, and the three letters are preceded by the general title, "News how the men of our most gracious Sovereign King of Rome and Spain have found a most costly new country," with the date 1520. The writing is cursive and difficult to read in certain parts, and dates certainly from the first part of the sixteenth century. In 1871 Muller pub- lished the manuscript under the title, "Trois Lettres sur la decouverte du Yucatan et les merveilles de ce pays. Ecrites par des compagnons de l'expedition sous Jean de Grivalja [sic], Mai 1518.' ' The edition was limited to thirty num- bered copies, printed on old paper. The original German text appears first, in Gothic characters cast in 1480, then follows a transcription in modern German in Elzevir type, finally a translation into French, printed in type from the Plantain press, cast in 1555. The original manu- script was offered for sale for 120 florins, in Muller's catalog issued in 1872. Here, in describing the item, he corrects the mistake made in the title of his publica-
AND MONOGRAPHS	1

10	CONQUEST BY CORTES
	tion of the letters, in which he mentions them as relating to the expedition of Grijalva to Yucatan in 1518.9 These letters are highly important, and form source material of value concern- ing the early stages of the conquest of Mexico. The first letter was undoubtedly written in Spanish and sent by a servant to his master, by one who accompanied the expedition of Cortes from Cuba to the shores of the present state of Vera Cruz. The German translation at hand evidently omits personal matters, and gives only that which calls attention to the interesting discoveries made and the treasure obtained by Cortes. It was written in the city named New Seville by Cortes, "in the port of Archidoma [sic], the 28th of June, 1518." New Seville, as has been said, was the large Totonacan city of Cempoalla, and Archidona was a town not far distant, the Indian name of which was Quiahuiztlan. According to Bernal Diaz this place was a fortress- like town on a plain, half a league from where the Spaniards established their
IX	INDIAN NOTES

FIRST LETTER

11

first settlement in Mexico, to which they gave the name Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz. The ruins of Cempoalla still exist, and show the remains of one of the most interesting of ancient Mexican cities. The site is about sixteen miles from the coast. Cortes made the place his head- quarters, and thence set out on his memorable trip into the unknown inte- rior to visit Montezuma in Tenochtitlan, his stronghold, in the valley of Mexico. The date of the letter indicates that it was written a little more than two weeks before the ship which carried the treasure and the reports of the progress of the expedition was despatched to Spain. The inventory accompanying the treasure was signed on July 6, and the letter sent by the town council of the new town is dated July 10. The ship sailed, as recorded by Cortes, on July 16. This letter is one of the six extant accounts written by eyewitnesses of this early period of the conquest of Mexico. First, is the collection of letters by Cortes.10 Next in order, and far more instructive,

AND MONOGRAPHS

12	CONQUEST BY CORTES
	is the History of the Conquest, by Bernal Diaz del Castillo.11 Then we have the so-called Anonymous Conquerer.12 These three sources have been known for a long time, and have been utilized by writers of the subject. In 1866, Icazbalceta published for the first time the fourth source from an eyewitness, the Relacion of Captain Andres de Tapia.13 The letter under consideration was printed in 1 87 1, but the edition is so small that it can hardly be said to have been made known. The sixth account, entitled His- toria de la Nueva Espana, was found by Paso y Troncoso in Spain in 1892, and was published in tomo vii of the Anales del Museo Nacional de Mexico in 1900; it is by Francisco de Aguilar, and is quite im- portant, although it adds little to what may be gathered from the writings of Cortes and Bernal Diaz.14 As first-hand information these accounts are in a class by themselves, and must be considered as distinct from the many histories relat- ing to the events of this epoch which appeared later.
IX	INDIAN NOTES

SECOND LETTER	13
The second letter published by Muller is a copy of one written in Seville, dated November 7, to be sent to Juan de la Pena in Burgos. From this letter, and the third one which bears the same date, we obtain the exact time of the arrival of the treasure ship in Seville, for both state that the vessel reached there two days before, hence, on November 5, 1519. This date is absolutely corroborated by the list found by Munoz in the Manual del Tesorero of the Casa de Contratacion of Seville, which states that the presents were received there on Saturday, Novem- ber 5, 1519,15 evidence that such a rich treasure was not allowed to remain on the ship, but was delivered to the authori- ties for safekeeping the very day of arrival, as might be expected. The writer of this second letter relates briefly what he gleaned from conversation with those who came on the caravel. He speaks of Cempoalla (under the name of New Seville), and also mentions briefly some of the objects of gold and silver. We shall refer to this letter again.
AND MONOGRAPHS	1

14	CONQUEST BY CORTES
	The third letter is very short; it was written in Seville, November 5, by a servant named Diego Dienz, of one Diego Dicharo, to Gencato y Almacon in Burgos. Like the other two, it calls attention to the large cities discovered and the gold treasure found in New Spain, which they then called Yucatan. Another letter of the same tenor, written in Spanish, was brought to light by Cesareo Fernandez Duro in 1885, and published by him as the First Notices of Yucatan.16 This letter, which was found in the archives of the Royal Academy of History in Madrid, was reprinted in 1898, in the introduction to the first volume of the Relaciones de Yucatan, published in the Coleccion de Documentos de Ultramar, tomo xi.17 The editor thinks there is no doubt that this letter refers to the arrival of a vessel, either during the last months of the year 151 8 or at the beginning of 15 19, which brought the first news of the discovery of Yucatan. If this is true, the ship was the one which brought the news of the discoveries made
IX	INDIAN NOTES

ANOTHER LETTER	15
in Yucatan and along the coast of Mexico in 151 8 by Juan de Grijalva, and also the treasure obtained from the Indians at that time. A comparison of this letter published by Fernandez Duro with the second Muller letter, shows such similarities that there can be no doubt that the German copy was a translation hastily made of one in Spanish similar to that published by Fernandez Duro. The Spanish letter is addressed to the Archbishop of Granada, President of the Council, while the German one is ad- dressed to Juan de la Pena in Burgos. There are slight minor differences to be noted, but the general details of the two letters are the same. These differences may be due to carelessness on the part of the German translator, who hastened to send the news of the great discovery to Austria. The truth seems to be that the same person wrote similar letters to at least two different individuals, one in Granada and the other in Burgos. It is indeed fortuitous that after the lapse of centuries both the German and the
AND MONOGRAPHS	1

16	CONQUEST BY CORTES
	Spanish epistles should come to light at about the same t: That Fernandez Duro was unawa of the publication of a German rendering of thii -r mation is not strange, when we uder the extremely small edition published by Muller. The context of the Spanish letter proves beyond doubt that it refers to the arrival of the vessel sent home by Cortes. Two great discs, one of gold, the other of silver, likened by the early writers to wheels, were the most imposing of the gifts sent by Cortes. In the list of presents brought to Cuba by Grijalva in 1518, and sent to Spain by Governor Velasquez, which is preserved in the work of Gomara,18 no mention is made of objects of this description, neither is any reference thereto in the Itinerary of Grijalva, written by Juan Diaz, the chaplain of the fleet, nor in the work of Oviedo y Valdes, who has given us the most extended account of this expedi- tion.19 These notable objects are de- scribed or mentioned in all four letters to
IX	INDIAN NOTES

THE GREAT DISCS 17

which we have just referred. Both Peter Martyr 20 and Las as 21 saw them in

7 MprU^ * -vhere th had been sent for tii^. ^ ^ of the King, in April, 1520.

Peter Ma ^ntc^ specifically that they were sent by Cortes. Furthermore, they are noted by all the eyewitnesses of the conquest with the exception of Cortes. The gold disc is catalogued in the Inven- tory accompanying the specimens, drawn up in July, 15 19, by Portocarrero and Montejo, who brought the treasure to Spain. We are at a loss to understand why the silver disc is not mentioned in the Inventory. A note that the presents were delivered to Valladolid for the inspection of the King during Holy Week, appears at the end of the list. Finally, we would call attention to the statement of Las Casas that these pieces, the large gold and silver discs, were sent to the coast of Mexico by Montezuma in 151 8 to be given to Grijalva, but when they arrived there, Grijalva had already departed on his return to Cuba,22 a statement also found in Gomara.23

AND MONOGRAPHS

I. N. M., IX-

18

CONQUEST BY CORTES

The Spanish letter begins, as does the German one, with the announcement that the caravel arrived in Seville two days before, hence the date when it was written is certainly November 7, 15 19. This date antedates by more than a year the publication in Basel, in 1521, of the account of the Grijalvaexpedition written by Peter Martyr,24 but the Itinerary of Grijalva, written by the chaplain of the fleet, Juan Diaz, appeared earlier and must be recognized as the first printed notice of Yucatan. It was issued from the press as an appendix to the Travels of Ludovico Varthema, on March 3, 1520,25 several months after the arrival of the treasure ship of Cortes, and a few weeks before these gifts were seen by the King.

On March 17 of the same year there appeared in Nuremberg a small tract of 12 pages by an anonymous author, which contains a notice of discoveries of Cordoba, Grijalva, and Cortes. Ban- croft writes that it is a collection of extracts from several letters to Charles V, referring to Yucatan and forming an

IX

INDIAN NOTES

CORDOBA'S VOYAGE 19

account of a recently discovered island, describing its locality, and the customs and habits of its inhabitants. On the first page is mentioned the voyage of Cordoba and the pilot Alaminos, made in 1 517 to the peninsula of Yucatan. On the reverse of the first leaf, in the second line begins an account of the voyage of Juan de Grijalva, stating that he sailed from the island (of Cuba) with three ships and one brigantine, with 360 men, and sailed to the land Iucatham and the island Chosumellam (Cozumel). The notice of this voyage is short, occupying this page (38 lines) and two-thirds of the next page. It then proceeds to relate some things about the expedition of Cortes.

There seems to be a mistake in the date of Cordoba's voyage, as the tract begins, "Als man zalt nach Christi gefurt tau- sendt funfshunderft und neunzehn Jar de sechste Julii 1st von der Inseln genant Fernandina auff dem meere gege dem nidergang Eine der Inseln | so jetziger zeit die Hispanier Indias nennen | ein Schiffart der Spaniol mit zweiye grossen

AND MONOGRAPHS

20

CONQUEST BY CORTES

schiffen vund einem kleinerem | das man verganto nennet | under dem Hauptman Francisco von Cordoba. Schiffpatron | oder Anthonio de Alaminos, dz sie auss nacht parlichen Inseln ettlich einwoner zu knechte hinf urte auss gangen," etc. The date of sailing should be 1517 instead of 1 5 19. There is a copy of this rare tract in the New York Public Library. The full title is, "Ein ausszug ettlicher send- brief dem aller durchleuchtigisten gross- mechtigiste Fursten vnd Herren Carl Romischen vnd Hyspanische Konig &c vnserm gnedigen hern durch ire verordent Hauptleut von wegen einer new gefunde Inseln, der selbe gelegenheit vnd jnwoner sitten vn geworineite inhaltend vor Kurt- zuerschienen tagen zugesandt." Colo- phon, "Niirmberg: Frederich Pepyus, 17 tag Marij, MDXX." This tract was printed two weeks after the printing of the Itinerary of Juan Diaz in Venice.

Another early anonymous publication of the news of these discoveries has been described by Harrisse. It is noted in the Additions to his Bibliotheca Ameri-

IX

INDIAN NOTES

LETTER ON GRIJALVA

21

cana Vetustissima, published in Paris in 1872. As this seems to be the only copy known, we give in extenso what Harrisse' writes about it. The title is, "Littera madata della Insula de Cuba de India in laquale se cotiene de le isnule Citta Gente et animali nouamente trouate de lanno AD. XIX. p li Spagnoli." It is a quarto sine loco, with title one-leaf and seven unnumbered leaves of text printed in Roman characters. It is in the Mar- ciana Library, Florence. Harrisse's de- scription is:

"The present letter is an account of Grijalva's expedition to Yucatan. It differs materially from the description of Juan Diaz, as given in the version published at Venice by Mat. Pagan and Zorzi di Rusconi. It begins thus: 'A di primo, del mese de Magio de questo pflte anno 1 5 19 [15 1 8]. Lo Signore Iohane de grisalua capitanio magiore co.200 santi & dui nauigli e vno brigantino se partimo de la insula chimata Cuba e infra tre sequeti giorni hauessimo scoperto terra' . . . and ends in this wise: 'E vn altro di trouao carauela co victuaglia che mandaua a nui lo signor Dego velasquez loco tenete dela Isula de Cuba credcdo che hauessimo populato in qualche loco e ne disseno che erano nella

AND MONOGRAPHS

22

CONQUEST BY CORTES

ditta insula de cuba quatro altri nauigli p venire in nostro soccorso e cosi ne tornamo ala dita insula de cuba dove fossimo resceputi dali nostri no tropo volunuiera pche no haueuamo comin- ciato a popular I vna de questi insule o netteuano in ordine otto nauigli grossi p dar la volta co piu gente a popular in qlche bon loco credemo sera la nostra partita a principio del mese de Febraro del anno M.D. XX. Finis. V.S.' "

An important tract, of which but two copies are known, one in the New York Public Library, the other in the John Carter Brown Library, has been de- scribed by Harrisse in his Bibliotheca Americana Vetustissima (no. 101). It is 11 Anonymous — Within a border. Pro- vinciae Sive Regiones In India Occiden- tali Noviter Reperta In Vltima Navi- gatione. Et Valleotti septima Martii. Millesimo Quingentesimovigesimo.* Very small 4to, fourteen unnumbered leaves, including the title." Harrisse adds: "The present is an account of the Con- quest of Cuba by Diego Velasquez, and

* "Anglice: The provinces or regions in the West Indies recently discovered in the last navigation. Valladolid, March 7th, 1850 [1520]."

IX

INDIAN NOTES

AUGSBURG TRACT	23
seems to be a translation into Latin of a Spanish narration as yet unknown/' As pointed out by Mr Wilberforce Eames, who drew attention to this work, the tract refers to the discovery of Yucatan by Cordoba in 1517, and there are reasons for belief that it was printed in Cologne. Another anonymous tract treating of these early discoveries in Mexico was printed in Augsburg, Germany, probably in 1522. It is entitled, "Newe Zeitung von dem Lande das die Sponier funden haben ym 1521. iare genant Iucatan." It bears no date, and but two copies are known, one in the " Royal" Library in Berlin, the other in the City Library of Augsburg. The Berlin copy consists of four leaves: on the first page is the title and an illustration; on the second page text; third page text and a repetition of the illustration on the first page; fourth page text; fifth page text and an illustration; sixth page text; seventh page text and a repetition of the engrav- ing on the fifth page; eighth page text.
AND MONOGRAPHS	1

24

CONQUEST BY CORTES

According to Harrisse, who has described the Augsburg example, the Berlin copy lacks the last two leaves. He states that the copy in Augsburg has title one-leaf, and five unnumbered leaves. The illus- tration in the Augsburg copy on the fifth and seventh pages represents a town and an island with the inscription, " Gross Venedig," referring evidently to Tenoch- titlan (City of Mexico), which was situ- ated on an island in a lake intersected by many canals. A facsimile of the Berlin example was printed in an edition of one hundred copies in 1873.

An exceedingly rare tract of this char- acter, a copy of which is in the New York Public Library, is "Ein schone Newe zeytung so Kayserlich Mayestet auss India yetz nemlich zukommen seind. Gar hupsch vo den Newen ynseln, ynd von yrem sytten Kurtweylig zu leesen." (n.p., n.d.) Harrisse states that it con- tains "an abridged account of the voyage of Columbus, and of the conquest of Mexico down to the year 1522, [and] was printed, it is supposed, at Augsburg

IX

INDIAN NOTES

FIRST GERMAN LETTER 25

by Sigmund Grimm, about 1522." He gives in B.A.V., no. 115, a reproduction of the engraved title-page.

The peninsula of Yucatan was dis- covered in 1517 by Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba, of which the only account by an eyewitness is that of Bernal Diaz. Grijalva was sent out the next year to follow up this discovery, and his expedi- tion coasted along the Mexican shores as far north as Tuxpan. Cortes conquered the country, and added this immense territory to the realms of the sovereigns of Spain.

Here follow translations of these four interesting documents:

First German Letter

"News how the men of our most gracious Sovereign King of Rome and Spain have found a most costly new country.

"1520.

" The following is the copy of a letter written by a servant to his master from the new found land called Yucatan ,26

AND MONOGRA PHS

26	CONQUEST BY CORTES
	"In the said letter there is contained much that does not belong here; here follows only the useful. "The said servant was in the Indies or the island of Cuba, from which he sailed with three ships to discover new lands. These three ships 27 were sent by Doctor Velasquez, Governor of His Royal Ma- jesty in the land of Cuba, and they have found a great new people. The writer of this letter traveled in the company of a knight named Fernando Cortes, who should travel with the new tidings to the said Doctor Velasquez, Governor of the island of Cuba. Therefore they have traveled united to our Master and King, bringing him the grand and wonderful presents which were given by the peoples of the said lands. "From the new tidings from the land named Yucatan which we have dis- covered, E. G. should know that it is the richest land in the world where were found the following things. It has so much gold innumerable or without com- parison, and has much silver and precious
IX	INDIAN NOTES

FIRST GERMAN LETTER	27
stones, namely, turquoise, garnets, rubies, and many other necessary things accord- ing to people who knew it. There are many clothes of cotton richly worked with figures sewed with a needle. One can hardly tell what wonderful things one finds in their houses; their bedsteads are covered with canopies and other costly cloths. The people of this land are honest, and have extraordinarily beautiful women. One cannot estimate the value of the houses of the great lords, neither are they comparable with those in our land, because it is a great sight to see the buildings of these countries, the large halls, the entrances to the doors, the courtyards, are built with much marble and are decorated; all buildings are painted in various colors. They have many dwellings so that the king with all his retinue may live comfortably therein. It is hard to tell what curious things one finds; their gardens are decorated with trees, with tables for banquets wonder- fully wrought. The cities are larger than Seville; more than half of them have five
AND MONOGRAPHS	1

28

CONQUEST BY CORTES

miles of roads in length and breadth, wonderously beautiful, with splendid streets all of them beautifully paved; all buildings are plastered inside with teraltza, as white and pure as paper. I could relate to E. G. almost 600,000 of these extraordinary things. I let E. G. know that the first time we went on land we spent 15 days in the great city. There they brought us so many pieces of worked gold that it is neither to believe nor to relate. It has been related to E. G. without doubt of the valuable trinkets of gold and precious stones which they carried with them to donate to the Roman Royal Majesty, and as it might occur that E. G. does not get a chance to see these trinkets, I will herein describe a few of these pieces which are being sent on these ships to His Royal Majesty.

"Two round discs, one of fine gold, the other of fine silver, finely worked with beautiful figures out of free hand, which were given to the Captain. The gold disc is 7 palms broad, and 7 palms long; the other of silver is the little finger smaller.

IX

INDIAN NOTES

FIRST GERMAN LETTER

29

"Further; a head of a great snake or dragon, that is a figure of very fine gold, with gold teeth; this is a full palm broad, and three fingers thick; note how large this head is. The eyes are of costly precious stones, and decorated with very costly feathers.28

"Further; a great disc of precious stones, which is on the inside and outside lined with a tiger-skin, which skins are very highly valued.

"Further; four necklaces with many costly stones mounted in gold.

"Further; a horn of a sea-fish made of gold, 2 palms long, and about 2 palms broad, entirely of gold.

"Further; a head of gold, and many other pieces of gold, silver, and precious stones. I know nothing more to com- municate to E. G. from here but that it is the best country of all things in this world. Written in the city named New Seville, in the port of Archidoma,29 the 28th of June, 1519.

"Furthermore, there is contained in said letter: the natives are of fairly good

AND MONOGRAPHS

30

CONQUEST BY CORTES

conservation and beautiful of body and face; very wealthy; they are circum- cised; they worship idols, and eat only pur[?] bread; they have no other bread. There are here a great many bees, sekt(?), lots of wax, and big peaches. It is believed that these natives have peopled the land originally when Rome was destroyed. It is a very friendly people, and they have (manifested) great joy that they have seen Christians, and they themselves have brought the Chris- tians among their people, and shown them the land. Our Captain has honored their King greatly by presents which they have valued very highly. Of these 3 ships which Diego Velasquez sent to dis- cover this land, he has sent over only one, the others remain in the land with about 50 men.30 They have built for- tresses and castles.31 The presents sent to our Lord and King. are valued at 15,000 Castile. It is all subtle and beautiful; it is not known whether the land is a main- land or not. This land has a lot of spice which has the shape of nails [cloves]."

IX

INDIAN NOTES

SECOND GERMAN LETTER 31

Second German Letter

" Here follows the copy of a letter from Seville, November 7, written to Juan de la Pena in Burgos.

"Two days ago a caravel arrived of 70 to 80 tons burden, from a new country called Yucatan; it brought 50 Indians32 from the said land called Yucatan, and they say that in their country about 15 or 20 years ago, 8 Castilian men from this city of Seville were married there, and that they are said to be very rich. These men arrived at said time through loss in a storm of a caravel, which had gone out on discoveries; that is why the caravel arrived, and these 8 men were saved.33 It is a country with many cities surrounded by walls like our city. And the first city in which these Castilians or Spaniards live is said to contain 500 men, and is situated at the entrance of a port on the sea.34 Our Christians have a separate dwelling on the outskirts of the city, about an arquebus shot away, and they are almost united with the other

AND MONOGRAPHS

32

CONQUEST BY CORTES

and trade daily with those of the city. They have gone with a little boat 14 miles35 from said port inland, and have found a city of 14,000 inhabitants or men, and have given the city the name of Seville the new one, or New Seville.36 It is said to have strong walls and very beautiful towers, beautiful palaces and market places; there is also said to be a great deal of commerce with the trades- men. It is also said that higher up, about 4 miles 37 above said port or waters, there is a still larger city; and they are said to have been there 10 days, and (this city) is said to have 1000 inhabi- tants.38 This I say according to what I have heard from others who have been there. Now I will tell also what I have

seen.

11 First, a bread (loaf) of gold bigger than a wagon wheel, and in it there are fashioned, just as one makes little objects out of tin, some wild animals, and in the center is the figure of a squatting wo- man,39 called Dercemj [zemi],40 that means the devil. This, Pedro Garcia de

IX

INDIAN NOTES

SECOND GERMAN LETTER

33

Careon should understand very well. It is wrought very well with many figures all around, and the bread, or wheel, weighs fully 150 marks of gold of the fineness of 20 carat gold. Further, (they) bring a wheel of fine silver, perhaps bigger even than the abovementioned, and it has a figure analogous to the one above said. The figure is a man and the other in the golden wheel a woman; then there is still another wheel or disc with 5 round gold discs, beautifully wrought, and very hard and firm, with feathers or feather tufts, exceedingly subtle and beautifully adorned. Further, 8 boxes in which there are different and curious things of gold, of which much could be written, but it is such a great quantity of gold that one can estimate it as 25,000 pesos of gold.

"Further, one has given there for a piece of crystal, which is here worth 2 maravedis, 500 pesos, and the Indians desire it very much. They tell of the most marvelous things that have ever been heard of. It is impossible to write

AND MONOGRAPHS

34	CONQUEST BY CORTES
	about (them). And how they finally got at them? I could not learn; later I will be able to write you about all of it in detail, that E. G. will learn of the great miracles and signs of God, that one has found so many things. ''They further say, that the Lord of their land is more attended to than the Emperor, in great state and triumph; he has io porters before one arrives where the King is, and in the kitchen where his meals are prepared there are 20 women."41 Third German Letter " Follows copy of a letter from Seville, November 7, written by Diego Dicharo's servant, whose name is Diego Dienz, to Gencato y Almacon in Burgos. "I give E. G. to know that two days ago a caravel has arrived here which comes from a country called Yucatan; this, Diego Velasquez of Cuba has sent to discover, and they bring great news, that is, that they have found the richest land that may exist; that they have found therein cities of 20,000 homes, and
IX	INDIAN NOTES

THIRD GERMAN LETTER

35

especially one in which there are said to be 50,000 fires or inhabitants. And the houses are of stone, and the land is very beautiful, and rich in grazing, mountains and game like in our countries; also exceedingly fertile, especially in gold. And they bring outside of many pieces, two big wheels, one of gold, weighing 30,000 of Castile; one of silver weighing 50 marks; the piece is as big as a mill- stone.42 It is to be understood that if there are so many such things which one must consider as being the truth, that the peoples of this land have great abundance of gold and silver. Their little vessels and utensils which are used in the houses (are) all of gold and silver, and they give them away for little. These (re- ports) are great news."

Spanish Letter " The news which has come from Seville of all that was brought by a caravel that came from Tierra Firme, which was sent to the Lord Archbishop of Granada, President of the Council**

AND MONOGRAPHS

36	CONQUEST BY CORTES
	"Two days ago there arrived here a caravel of LXXX tons, which came from this new land which they call Hiucata [Yucatan]. It brought in it six Indians from this same land. They say that there are there (for the past) fifteen or twenty years, eight Castilians of Seville and of the country, and these men are from a caravel which was lost, which went to that land, from which (caravel) these escaped, and they are there, married and rich. Tt is a land where there are towns walled like those here, and also cities, and in the first city, where the Spaniards live, they say there are five hundred men there, of four hundred inhabitants,44 and it is at the mouth of a river which is close to the sea, and the Spaniards who are there have made another settlement out- side of the city, a cross-bow shot away, and they are there very friendly, and trade one with the other. "Fourteen leagues above the place where the boat of this caravel went, they found a city of XIIIJ U [14,000] inhabi-
IX	INDIAN NOTES

^^^■ann

SPANISH LETTER

37

tants; they gave it the name New Seville, and say that there are there towers, and walls in it, and with very beautiful houses and a town house, and all that there is found in Seville, and plazas and markets, and much traffic, and they say that XL leagues above, there is another city larger than the one they say, which might have IX U [9000] inhabitants; this is by hear- say, for they did not go there. Now I wish to speak about what the caravel brought, which I saw with my own eyes.

" First, a mass of gold as wide as a cart-wheel; I say that it is worked, as when they work over pitch, a great plate of silver; there are in it several large beasts; it has a mass in the center, with the figure of a seated woman, which is, one might say, the devil, and it is very well made, and (there are) many other pictures round about it, and this gold wheel weighs fully one hundred and fifty marks of gold of more than twenty carats.

''There is furthermore another wheel of the same size, which is of fine silver, and it has some figures, similar to the

AND MONOGRAPHS

38

CONQUEST BY CORTES

other, in the center, and this figure is a male, and that of the gold one, a female; and a round shield, with five plates of gold, and worked out in an exquisite manner, and a feather-piece worked par excellence, and eight chests filled with divers things, which it would take too long to recount, in which there are head armor of gold, and mortars of gold, and bows and arrows of gold, and such a quantity of gold that they say there is more than twenty five pesos of gold, only in these things, and all of this they say, was shown (to them) by the principal Indians, and from them was bartered. For a crystal that is worth two maravedis, they [the Indians] gave five hundred pesos of gold, and in this manner all other things (in) proportion. They speak of so many marvels that one cannot write (about them).

"They say that the Lord of all this land is served better than an Emperor, with more triumph [state]; that he has ten gate-keepers before one reaches where he is, and in the kitchen where the food

IX

INDIAN NOTES

NOTES 39

is prepared, they say there are easily two hundred women, so well kept is the house."

NOTES

i. A study of documentary material regarding the motives underlying the despatch of the expe- dition under the command of Cordoba, and the question of the landfall, has been recently pub- lished by the writer, "The Discovery of Yucatan in 1 51 7 by Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba," in The Geographical Review, New York, vol. vi, no. 5, November, 19 18.

2. The " Itinerary" of Juan de Grijalva, written by the chaplain of the fleet, was published in Italian by Ludovico de Varthema in his work entitled " Itinerario de Ludouico Varthema Bo- lognese ne lo Egypto ne la Suria ne la Arabia deserta & Felice ne la Persia: ne la India: & ne la Ethiopia. La fede el uiuiere & costui de le pfate puicie. Et al psente agiotoui alcue isole noua- mete ritrouate. [Wood-cut.] [Colophon:] H Im- presso in Venetia per Zorzi di Rusconi Milanese. Nellanno della Incarnatione del nostro Signore Ieso Christo. M.D. XX. adi III. de Marzo. Reg- nando lo inclito Principe Duca de Venetia. Registro. ABCDEFGHIKLMN Tutti sono Quaderni." 103 unnumbered leaves. On 85b begins: "^ Itinerario de larmata del Re Cath- olico in India verso la Isola de Iuchathan del anno. M. D. XVIII. alia qual su presidete & Capitan General loan de Grisalua elqual e facto

AND MONOGRAPHS

40

CONQUEST BY CORTES

per El Capellano maggior de dicta armata a sua alteza." It was translated into French by Ternaux-Compans, and published in vol. x of his Voyages, Relations et Memoires Orig- inaux pour Servir a VHistoire de V Amerique, Paris, 1838. A translation into Spanish was published by Joaquin Garcia Icazbalceta in his Coleccion de Documentos para la Historia de Mexico, tomo. 1, pp. 281-308, with parallel Italian text. This has been translated into Eng- lish by the writer and will appear as vol. in of the Publications of the Cortes Society.

3. The edition of Bernal Diaz del Castillo con- sulted is the translation made by Alfred P. Maudslay, published by the Hakluyt Society in five volumes, the 2d Series, vols. 23-25, 30, and 40, London, 1908-16. See vol. 1, book iii, chap, xxxviii, p. 137.

4. An extended study of these objects, based on documentary material, has been made by the writer in his work, "The Goldsmith's Art in Ancient Mexico," to be published in this series.

5. On this subject consult the work of Bernal Diaz, op. cit.

6. A document entitled " Escriptura convenida entre Hernando Cortes e el regimiento de la Villa-Rica en la Vera Cruz, sobre defensa de sus habitantes y derechos que habia de recaudar. Agosto 5 de 1 5 19," published in Coleccion de- Documentos Ineditos del Archivo de Indias, tomo xxvi, Madrid, 1876, begins as follows: "En el

IX

INDIAN NOTES

NOTES

pueblo de Campual [Cempoalla], que agora es nombrado Sevilla, termino e xurisdiccion de la Villa-Rica de la Vera Cruz del Puerto de Archi- dona." In the same volume of the Coleccion is another document, " Presentaciones e Xura- mentos de los testigos que presento la parte del Marques del Valle para en prueba de sus des- cargos. Abril de 1534," in which is the following: "Lo que sabo de la dicha pregunta, es que dende a pocos dias queste testigo llego en la dicha villa de la Vera Cruz, primeramente poblada, el dicho Don Hernando Cortes se aposento en un pueblo alto ques cerca de la dicha villa, que los Indios llaman Quiabstlan [Quiahuiztian] e los espafioles por estar alto posieron Archidona."

7. The ruins of the city of Cempoalla remained in obscurity from the time of its fall and decay during the latter part of the sixteenth century, until 1883, when Herman Strebel published in Hamburg an account of the ruins, with plans of some of the structures. It does not appear that Strebel had visited the ruins at that time, but derived his information from others. In 1891, a commission under the leadership of Francisco del Paso y Troncoso made a survey of the ruins, and in 19 12 a report of the results of the expedi- tion, edited by Jesus Galindo y Villa, "Las Ruinas de Cempoala," was published in the Anales del Museo Nacional de Mexico, New Series, tomo in. In 1905, Dr J. Walter Fewkes visited the region and has published an important

41

AND MONOGRAPHS

42

CONQUEST BY CORTES

study of the subject, "Certain Antiquities of Eastern Mexico," in the 25th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, for 1003-04, Washington, 1907. The writer spent two days at the ruins in January 1898, and made a survey and plan of one of the temples.

8. A translation of this Inventory will be found in the writer's work, "The Goldsmith's Art in Ancient Mexico," op. cit.

9. The copy of this rare work in the library of the writer seems to be a printer's first issue of the Letters. It lacks the first viii pages com- prising the title-page and introduction, has an extra line of type to the page, and the French rendering is different in a number of cases. The paper is also larger and the sheets uncut. While the present study of these letters was in type, we obtained a copy of the regular edition, formerly in the Medlicott library. In it was a folded sheet containing two columns of galley proof of an article entitled " Conquest of Mexico," being a review of the Trois Lettres, signed with the initials "C. H. B." No date or place of publication is given, but we have traced it to the American Bibliopolist, vol. 4, nos. 43 and 44, published by Joseph Sabin and Sons, New York, 1872. There can be no doubt that it was written by the well-known Mexicanist, Carl Hermann Berendt, as he was in the United States during the years 1872-73, and published a number of papers at that time. As this review is important, we reprint it in extenso.

IX

INDIAN NOTES

NOTES

43

"CONQUEST OF MEXICO.

" Our bibliophiles may perhaps have noticed in the Catalogue of Books, Maps, Plates on America, etc., published by Fr. Muller, Amsterdam, (See our May number, p. 252) under No. 1144, the description of a German manuscript, of the year 1520, containing copies of three letters, relating to the 'new found land Yucatan.' From this manuscript, Mr. Muller has issued an edition of 30 copies, printed by .Enschede (Harlem), on old paper, with real old gothic characters from the 15th century, together with a version into modern German, printed with Elzevirian types, and another, modern French, printed with characters de civilite, both from the 16th century. A copy of this curious and beautiful plaquette has just reached us. It is a small 8vo, with the title: Trots Lettres sur la Decouverte du Yucatan, et les Merveilles de ce Pays. Ecrites par des com- pagnons de V expedition sous Jean de Grivalja (sic) May, 1 5 18; viii and 35 pages; on the last, un- numbered, printers escutcheon, name, year, etc. We note at once some slight mistakes on the title page. These letters do not refer to the expedition of Grijalva (not Grivalja) to Yucatan, but to Cortes, landing on the Culhuan (Mexican) coast at the actual site of the city of Vera Cruz, and the letters are not written by companions of either, but one by a companion of Cortes, and the two others by persons in Spain. The countries, discovered and conquered by Cortes,

AND MONOGRAPHS

44

CONQUEST BY CORTES

were for years called Yucatan, until the name New-Spain had been introduced and g nerally accepted. So was the title of the dominican friar Julian Garces, the first bishop appointed for Mexico, until the year 1526, 'Bishop of Yucatan.' It seems to be in consequence of a similar mistake that we find Hernando de Gri- jalva's expedition to the Northwest, which sailed from the Yucatan port, called the 'Bay of San- tiago de Buena Esperanza,' (either the port Huatulco or La Ventosa, in the State of Oaxaca), recorded in a monograph of works on Central America.

" The first letter, written by one of the com- panions of Cortes, is given in extract only, and that seems to have been translated from the Spanish. It bears the date 'New Sevilla,' (the name given by the Spaniards to the To- tonaco-town Cempoallan) in the port ' die Arch- idoma,' on the 28th of June, 1519. This was about a week before the appointment of the municipality of the 'Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz.' Cortes' first (lost) Carta de Relacion, and the letter of the new Ayuntamiento, were written on the 6th of July, and Francisco de Montejo, who was sent to Spain with them and with the first presents received from Montezuma, must have taken with him among the letters, 'written by officers and soldiers,' this one to the mother country. He sailed the 20th of July, and arrived in San Lucar in October of

IX

INDIAN NOTES

NOTES

45

the same year. The other two letters, dated Se villa (52 miles from San Lucar), on the 7th of November (no year is given, but evidently the same year, 15 19), give reports of the arrival of the news and treasure from the new discovered countries to some parties in Burgos. The translator of the original into modern German and French, seems not to have been sufficiently versed either in the history of Cortes ' expedition, or in the ancient German language. Interposing a fancied punctuation, he turns the expedition, sent by Velasquez, Governor in Cuba, into one sent by Governor Velasquez to Cuba. He ought to have guessed that the tingrishaut which gave him much trouble, as indicated by an interro- gation within brackets, might be read tiegrishaut (tiger-fell), the German written e, being very similar to the n.

" There are some discrepancies in the report, of which one at least is not easily explained. The writer mentions repeatedly that the expedition consisted of three ships, while we know that their number was eleven, a fact which scarcely could be ignored by a member of the expedition. It is also here asserted that the news were to be sent to Velasquez, and that the writer had been destined to go with the bearer, while it is known that Montejo had strict orders not to land in Cuba, but to proceed directly to Spain. But it seems by no means impossible that such rumor had been spread purposely, in order to deceive

AND MONOGRAPHS

46

CONQUEST BY CORTES

the friends of Velasquez among the expeditionists, and that the writer was not aware of Montejo's real instructions. The description of the presents, to be forwarded to Spain, enters into some details which we do not remember to have seen given by the contemporanean writers. The evident exag- geration is fully in accordance with the boasting character of a Spanish adventurer and conqueror. Discrepancies in the two other letters are of less weight; so the item that Monte jo brought 50 Indians with him (in a ship of 70 to 80 tons); the weight of the gold-wheel given at 30,000 Castellanos (300 Spanish pounds, while it weighed only 20). They do not affect the credibility so much, as the writers gave their information, probably, on hear-say.

"Altogether, we consider this print not only of value as a typographical curiosity, but also of some historical importance; not to speak of the high estimation it will meet for existing in a number of thirty copies. C[arl]. H[ermann]. B[erendt]."

10. The letters of Cortes to the King were printed soon after their receipt in Spain. As has been already stated, the first letter sent from the coast has not been found; the second letter was written from a newly founded town, not far from the present city of Puebla, named Seguara de la Frontera; it is dated October 30, 1520, and was printed by Juan Cromberger in Seville, November 8, 1522. The third letter was written in Coyoacan,

IX

INDIAN NOTES

NOTES

47

near the City of Mexico, on May 15, 1522. It was also printed by Cromberger in Seville, March 30, 1523. The fourth letter was written in Tencochtitlan (now the City of Mexico), October 15, 1524, and was printed in Toledo, October 20, 1525. We use the translation of Francis A. MacNutt, "The Letters of Cortes to Charles V," two volumes, New York, 1908.

11. The first issue of the work of Bernal Diaz was in 1632. We use the edition of the Hakluyt Society, op. cit.

12. The short but valuable account of the Anonymous Conqueror appeared in Italian in the Collection of Ramusio in 1556. A translation into French was published by Ternaux-Compans in tome x of his "Recueil de Pieces relatives a la Conquete du Mexique," of Voyages, Relations et Memoires Originaux pour servir a VHistoire de la Decouverte de V Amerique, Paris, 1837-41. A translation into Spanish was published by Joaquin Garcia Icazbalceta, in Coleccion de Documentos para la Historia de Mexico, tomo I, Mexico, 1858. The writer has made an English translation which appears as vol. 1 of Documents and Narratives Concerning the Discovery and Con- quest of Latin America, published by the Cortes Society in 19 17.

13. The important account of the conquest of Mexico by Captain Andres de Tapia was pub- lished for the first time by Icazbalceta in his Col. de Doc. para la Hist, de Mex., tomo 11, Mexico,

AND MONOGRAPHS

48

CONQUEST BY CORTES

1866. An English translation has been made by Randolph M. Saville and will appear as vol. v of the Publications of the Cortes Society.

14. The account of Francisco de Aguilar was not written until the author was an old man, and then at the importunities of some of his fellow priests. It was sent to the Archbishop of Mexico in 1579. Diego Duran obtained much informa- tion from Aguilar when writing his Historia de las Indias de Nueva Espana, and placed more weight on his testimony than that of the Indians and their paintings from whom he derived the greater part of the material for his history. He writes of him, "fray Francisco de Aguilar per- sona muy benerable y de mucha autoridad en la orden del padre glorioso Santo Domingo." (Hist, de las Ind. de N. E., t. 2, cap. lxxx, p. 82, Mexico, 1880.) What may be an account of this epoch was exhibited at the Columbian Historical Exposition at Madrid in 1892. It is a letter of Francisco de Monte jo describing the country in the vicinity of Vera Cruz, and is from the Archives of the Indies in Seville. We do not know that it has been published.

15. See Coleccion de Documentos Ineditos para la Historia de Espana, published by Navarrete, tomo 1, Madrid, 1842.

16. "Primeras Noticias de Yucatan," by Cesa- reo Fernandez Duro, in Boletin de la Sociedad Geogrdfica de Madrid, tomo xix, Segundo Semes- tre de 1880, pp. 336-342, Madrid, 1885.

IX

INDIAN NOTES

NOTES 49

17. Introduction, pp. xxxv-xxxviii.

18. Francisco Lopez de Gomara, " Conquista de Mexico, Segunda Parte de la Cronica de las Indias," edition of Vedia, " Historiadores Primi- tives de Indias," reprinted by Rivadeneyra in Biblioteca de Autores Espanoles, tomo, 1, pp. 298- 299, Madrid, 1852.

19. G. F. de Oviedo y Valdes, "Historia Gen- eral y Natural de la Indias," edition of the Real Academia de la Historia, tomo 1, primera parte, lib. xvii, caps, viii-xviii, pp. 502-537, Madrid, 1 85 1. These chapters have been translated into English and will be printed by the Cortes Society in the volume devoted to the expedition of Grijalva in 15 18.

20. Peter Martyr, edition of Francis A. Mac- Nutt, vol. 11, Fifth Decade, p. 106, New York, 19 1 2. This is an English translation from the Latin of "De Orbe Novo."

21. Bartolomeo de Las Casas, "Historia de las Indias," edition of Fuensanta del Valle and Rayon, published in five volumes in Coleccion de Documentos Ineditos para la Historia de Espana, tomo iv, p. 486, Madrid, 1876.

22. Las Casas, op. cit., vol. iv, p. 436.

23. Gomara, op. cit., p. 313.

24. Peter Martyr, "De Nvper Sub D. Carolo Repertis Insulis, simulat q'incolarum moribus R. Petri Martyris, Enchiridion Dominae Margari- tae, Diui, Max. Caes. Filiae Dictatum," Basiliae, 1521.

AND MONOGRAPHS

50 CONQUEST BY CORTES

25. See Note 2.

26. In these early days of the discovery of Mexico, the name Yucatan was applied indis- criminately to the entire coast and lands of the Gulf of Mexico as far as Vera Cruz. The title of the first printed letter (the second letter), published early in November, 1522, contains the statement of "innumerable lands and provinces newly discovered in Yucatan, especially the very large and rich province called Culua." Culua was the name of the region in which Montezuma held sway. The information contained in this and the following letters shows conclusively that the land of the present state of Vera Cruz was described.

27. This is inaccurate. The so-called first letter sent by the Municipality of the newly founded colony, under date of July 10, 15 19, says, "Hernan Cortes sailed upon his voyage from the island of Fernandina [Cuba], having ten caravels and four hundred men of arms." In a recently discovered "memorial" sent by Martin Cortes, father of the conqueror, to the Royal Council, probably in March, 1520, in the name of his son to solicit the favor of the Court and to counteract the adverse influence of Diego Velasquez and others unfriendly to him, a brief statement is made regarding the expedition. It relates that Cortes went out from Cuba, "with seven caravels of his own, and three of the said Diego Velasquez, with four hundred men, to

IX INDIAN NOTES

NOTES 51

barter at the island and land of Coluacan and other parts." (Published by P. Mariano Cuevas, "Cartas y otros Documentos Novisimamente Descubiertos en el Archivo General de Indias en la Ciudad de Se villa," Sevilla, 191 5-) Porto- carrero, one of the two proctors sent by Cortes with the loot to Spain, in a "declaration" made in the city of Corufia, dated April 29, 1520, states that he had heard "that of the ten ships that went out in the fleet, three were those of Diego Velasquez, and the seven belonged to Cortes and his friends." {Doc. Ined. para la Hist, de Espana, t. 1, p. 491, Madrid, 1842.) Oviedo y Valdes (op. cit., t. 1, lib. xvn, cap. xix, pp. 539-540) writes that Cortes went to New Spain " with seven ships and three brigs which Diego Velasquez had given him." Bernal Diaz (op. cit., t. 1, cap. xxv, p. 90) asserts, "There were eleven ships in all," in which state- ment he is followed by Herrera. Peter Martyr mentions the three brigs, but writes that in addi- tion there were "ten caravels with five hundred men." The statement in the German letter of the three ships sent out by Velasquez, in which the said servant sailed, corresponds to the "me- morial" of Martin Cortes, and the statement of Portocarrero so far as the ships owned by the Governor are concerned. The failure to mention the seven ships furnished by the conqueror seems to be in line with the tactics of Cortes' enemies to deliberately discredit him in Spain, and it is

AND MONOGRAPHS

52

CONQUEST BY CORTES

highly probable that his letter sent to the King at that time, the missing first letter, was pur- posely suppressed and perhaps destroyed.

28. This probably describes one of the so-called helmets or masks, of which three examples are now in the British Museum and several are in Rome and Florence. Consult Maudslay's ap- pendix to the work of Bernal Diaz, op. cit., vol. 1, pp. 299-302.

29. The spelling here, "Archidoma," is wrong; it should be Archidona.

30. This statement of fifty men remaining in Mexico is manifestly an error. The number was nearer five hundred. Bernal Diaz writes about a muster of his forces held by Cortes on the island of Cozumel, off the coast of Yucatan, and states that they "numbered five hundred and eight soldiers, not counting the shipmasters, pilots. and sailors, who numbered about one hundred." Op. cit., vol. 1, p. 92.

31. This refers to the building of the first settle- ment made by the Spaniards in New Spain, the town of Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz. Later the town was removed to the south, halfway to the place where they first landed, near the village called Antigua on the present line of the Inter- oceanic Railroad. It was again later removed to the southeast to the present site, opposite the island of San Juan de Ulua, the place of the landfall on the coast, now the port of Vera Cruz.

32. The statement that fifty Indians were

IX

INDIAN NOTES

NOTES

53

brought to Spain at this time is an error. Six Indians were sent to show the King the kind of people found in the new country.

33*. At the time of the voyage of Grijalva the Spaniards heard rumors of some white men living in Yucatan. Cortes was charged to make a search for them, and bring them to Cuba. On this voyage they learned that two were living. One, Gonzalo Guerrero, refused to leave his new home, for he had taken a wife, had children, and occupied a position of importance among the natives. The other, Geronimo de Aguilar, was found. He joined the expedition and became a valued assistant to Cortes. Having acquired the Maya language, he was able to act as inter- preter. Later, when the Indian girl Marina was taken, the chain was complete, for she not only understood the Maya language, but the Mexican or Nahuatl, which was her mother tongue.

34. This probably refers to the town of Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz.

35. This statement seems to be inaccurate, for the Spaniards probably went on foot to this town. It is possible, however, that a few went on a first trip up river in a canoe.

36. The Totonacan town of Cempoalla is here referred to.

37. This assertion of a town only four miles from the port (Archidona) being larger than New Seville, or Cempoalla, is inaccurate.

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CONQUEST BY CORTES

38. Here again the statement of a larger town than New Seville (which is said to have had 14,000 inhabitants), and having 1000 inhabitants, shows confusion and haste in preparing the letter.

39. The statement that the figure in the center of the large gold disc represented a squatting woman is interesting. Peter Martyr writes that the figure resembled a king seated on his throne. These are the only statements regarding the character of the central figure of this wonderful piece, which undoubtedly represented in its entirety the Mexican calendar wheel.

40. The word Dercemj (Der cemj) is a corrup- tion of the Antillean word zemi or zeme, the name for an idol.

41. In the Spanish letter the number is given as 200, which is probably correct.

42. Peter Martyr is the only other contempor- ary writer who compares this great gold disc to a millstone.

43. According to Fernandez Duro, the Arch- bishop of Granada at this time, who was President of the Council of the Indies, was Don Antonio de Rojas.

44. This statement is very obscure. We have translated literally the text as it appears in the original Spanish.

IX

INDIAN NOTES

INDIAN NOTES AND MONOGRAPHS

Edited by F. W. Hodge

Vol. IX Hfi^UrafeS No. 2

A SERIES OF PUBLICA- TIONS RELATING TO THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES

BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTES ON UXMAL, YUCATAN

BY

MARSHALL H. SAVILLE

NEW YORK

MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION

1921

This series of Indian Notes and Monographs is devoted primarily to the publication of the results of studies by members of the staff of the Mus- eum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, and is uniform with His- panic Notes and Monographs, pub- lished by the Hispanic Society of America, with which organization this Museum is in cordial cooperation.

Only the first ten volumes of Indian Notes and Monographs are numbered. The unnumbered parts may readily be determined by consulting the List of Publications issued as one of the series.

INDIAN NOTES AND MONOGRAPHS

Edited by F. W. Hodge

Vol. IX tefe?K-Ut*tei No. 2

A SERIES OF PUBLICA- TIONS RELATING TO THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES

BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTES ON UXMAL, YUCATAN

BY

MARSHALL H. SAVILLE

NEW YORK

MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION

1921

BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTES ON UXMAL, YUCATAN

BY

MARSHALL H. SAVILLE

BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTES ON UXMAL, YUCATAN

By Marshall H. Saville

INTRODUCTION

XMAL is one ot the two most important ruined cities of the Maya in Yucatan, and in some respects surpasses the other city, Chichen Itza, in the grandeur of its edifices. Certainly the House of the Governor, still in a fair state of preservation, is the most impressive building in Central America. The group of more or ess ruined structures must have impressed the chroniclers, although none of them, with a single exception, have described in detail any of the build- ings. It remained for an American ex- plorer, John Lloyd Stephens, by his ac-

55

INDIAN NOTES

IX

56

UXMAL

count of the ruins, accompanied by the splendid drawings of his companion, Frederick Catherwood, an Englishman, to call attention to the wonders of Uxmal, as well as of many other ruins in Yucatan. Desire Charnay, a Frenchman, visited Yucatan in 1857 and again in i860, making superb photographs of a number of the Uxmal edifices, which were issued in an atlas in 1863. During the late seventies the Le Plongeons spent con- siderable time at the ruins, and Dr Le Plongeon made many photog aphs, some of which have been reproduced in num- erous short articles of little scientific value. In 1888, Mr Henry M. Sweet, a member of the Thompson expedition sent out by the Peabody Museum, Harvard University, secured a number of views, the collection being augmented later by those taken by Mr Edward H. Thompson. During his many years' residence in Yucatan, Teobert Maler visited the ruins repeatedly and made many beautiful photographs of the site, including views of parts of the ruins but little visited. In

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1910, Mr Jesse L. Nusbaum made about sixty photographs for the Archaeological Institute of America.

During their residence in Uxmal, the Le Plongeons made molds of parts of facades of some of the temples, and Charnay on his later expedition, during the years 1 880-1 882, molded sections of some of the same structures. In 1892, Mr Thompson made molds of sections of the House of the Governor and of the Nunnery Group, which were reproduced as part of the exhibit of the Department of Anthropology under the direction of Prof. F. W. Putnam at the Worlds Columbian Exposition in Chicago. These are no longer in existence, but the molds should have been preserved in Chicago, as they were the most complete repre- sentations of Mayan buildings thus far produced.

In excavation, no work has been done except the desultory digging of the Le Plongeons, and the exploration of a mound back of the hacienda building by the writer. The site requires careful

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exploration, and much restoration work is necessary to strengthen weak walls, especially to replace the wooden lintels which have fallen in practically all of the buildings, the loss of which will ulti- mately prove fatal to the security of the walls. As yet no complete plan has been made of this important site, and a systematic exploration will doubtless lead to the discovery of much hieroglyphic material, to throw needed light on the history of one of the greatest of ancient Mayan cities.

Regarding the origin of Uxmal, there is a little folklore, which follows.

According to Bancroft, "the reign of the Tutul Xius at Uxmal was doubtless the most glorious period of Maya history, but in addition to what has been said, we have respecting it only a single tradi- tion which seems to refer to the last king and the overthrow of the dynasty." Bancroft gives a paraphrase of this tradi- tion, which was published in the Registro Yucateco (tomo II, pp. 261-272, Merida, 1845). It is written in the form of a

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dialogue between a visitor to the ruins and a native of more than ordinary in- telligence who professed to be well acquainted with the historical traditions of his race. The article is dated May 25, 1845, and is simply signed by the pseudo- nym "Un Curioso." Bancroft's abridg- ment is—

"An old sorceress lived at Kabah, rarely leaving her chimney [sic] corner. Her grandson, a dwarf, by making a hole in her water- jar, kept her a long time at the well one day, and by removing the hearth-stone found the treasure she had so care- fully guarded, a silver tunkul and zoot, native instruments. The music produced by the dwarf was heard in all the cities, and the king of Uxmal trembled, for an old prophecy declared that when such music should be heard the monarch must give up his throne to the musician. A peculiar duel was agreed upon between the two, each to have four baskets of cocoyoles, or palm-nuts, broken on his head. The dwarf was victorious, and took the dead king's place, having the Casa del Adivino built for his palace, and the Casa de la Vieja for his grandmother. The old sorceress soon died, and the new king, freed from all re- straint, plunged into all manner of wickedness, until his gods, or idols, abandoned him in anger. But after several attempts the dwarf made a new

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god of clay which came to life and was worshipped by the people, who by this worship of an evil spirit soon brought upon themselves destruction at the hands of the outraged deities, and Uxmal was abandoned."

The story of the Casa del Adivino, also called Casa del Enano, as related to Stephens by an old Indian, differs some- what from that given in the Registro Yucateco. It follows:

"There was an old woman who lived in a hut on the very spot now occupied by the structure on which this building is perched, and opposite the Casa del Gobernador, who went mourning that she had no children. In her distress she one day took an egg, covered it with a cloth, and laid it away carefully in one corner of the hut. Every day she went to look at it, until one morn- ing she found the egg hatched, and a criatura, or creature, or baby, born. The old woman was delighted, and called it her son, provided it with a nurse, took good care of it, so that in one year it walked and talked like a man; and then it stopped growing. The old woman was more delighted than ever, and said he would be a great lord or king. One day she told him to go to the house of the gobernador and challenge him to a trial of strength. The dwarf tried to beg off, but the old woman insisted, and he went. The

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guard admitted him, and he flung his challenge at the gobernador. The latter smiled, and told him to lift a stone of three arrobas, or seventy-five pounds, at which the little fellow cried and returned to his mother, who sent him back to say that if the gobernador lifted it first, he would afterward. The gobernador lifted it, and the dwarf immediately did the same. The gober- nador then tried him with other feats of strength, and the dwarf regularly did whatever was done by the gobernador. At length, indignant at being matched by a dwarf, the gobernador told him that, unless he made a house in one night higher than any in the place, he would kill him. The poor dwarf again returned crying to his mother, who bade him not to be disheartened, and the next morning he awoke and found him- self in this lofty building. The gobernador, seeing it from the door of his palace, was astonished, and sent for the dwarf, and told him to collect two bundles of cogoiol, a wood of a very hard species, with one of which he, the gobernador, would beat the dwarf over the head, and afterward the dwarf should beat him with the other. The dwarf again returned crying to his mother; but the latter told him not to be afraid, and put on the crown of his head a tortillita de trigo, a small thin cake of wheat flour. The trial was made in the presence of all the great men of the city. The gobernador broke the whole of his bundle over the dwarf's head without hurting the little

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fellow in the least. He then tried to avoid the trial on his own head, but he had given his word in the presence of his officers, and was obliged to submit. The second blow of the dwarf broke his skull in pieces, and all the spectators hailed the victor as their new gobernador. The old woman then died; but at the Indian village of Mani, seventeen leagues distant, there is a deep well, from which opens a cave that leads under- ground an immense distance to Merida. In this cave, on the bank of a stream, under the shade of a large tree, sits an old woman with a serpent by her side, who sells water in small quantities, not for money, but only for a criatura or baby to give the serpent to eat; and this old woman is the mother of the dwarf." — Incidents of Travel in Central America, vol. II, pp. 423-425.

1556

[Document]

In 1842 John Lloyd Stephens visited Mani in search of historical material relating to the ruins of Uxmal. He was shown a "large volume which had an ancient and venerable appearance, being bound in parchment, tattered, and worm-eaten, and having a flap to close like that of a pocket-book. Un- happily it was written in the Maya language, and perfectly unintelligible. The dates, however, showed that these venerable pages were a record of events which had taken

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place within a few years after the entry of the Spaniards." Stephens had accurate translations made by Don Pio Perez and Father Carillo of the documents which related to Uxmal. The earliest was dated August 10, 1556, and is as follows:

"On the tenth of August, in the year one thousand five hundred and fifty-six, the special judge arrived with his interpreter, Gaspar Antonio, from Vxmal, when they reached this chief village of Mani, with the other caciques that followed them, Don Francisco Che, governor of Ticul, Don Francisco Pacab, governor of Tekax, Don Alonzo Pacab, governor of Jan, Don Juan Che, governor of Mama, Don Alonzo Xiu, governor of Tekit, with the other governors of his suite, Don Juan Cacom, governor of Tekoh, with Don Gaspar Fun, Don Juan Carnal, governor of Nunhini, Don Francisco Ciz, other governor of Cosuma, Don Juan Cocom, governor of Zotuta, Don Gonzalo Fuyu, governor of Tixcacaltuyti, Don Juan Han, governor of Yaxcaba; those were brought to this chief village of Mani from Vxmal, with the others named, and the judge Felipe Manrique, with Gaspar Antonio, commissioned interpreter."

The rest of the document is omitted by Stephens. See Incidents of Travel in Yuca- tan, vol. 11, p. 268. *

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1557

[Document]

Another document found in the volume referred to bears the date 1557. It reads:

" Memorandum of having divided the lands by D. Francisco Montejo Xiu, governor of this pueblo of Mani, and the governors of the pueblo who are under him.

"There met together Don Francisco Montejo Xiu, governor of this pueblo, and of the jurisdiction of Tutul Xiu; Don Francisco Che, governor of Ticul, Don Francisco Pacab, governor of Oxcutzcab, Don Diego Vs, governor of Tekax, Don Alonzo Pacab, governor of Jan-monal, Don Juan Che, governor of Mama, Don Alonzo Xiu, governor of Tekit, and the other governors within the jurisdiction of Mani, to- gether with the regidores, for the purpose of regulating the landmarks, and maintaining the right of each village respecting the felling of trees, and to fix and settle with crosses the boundaries of the milpas of their respective villages, dividing them into parts according to their situation, showing the lands pertaining to each. The people of Canul, those of Acanceh, of Ticoh, those of Cosuma, those of Zotuta and its jurisdiction, those of Tixcacab, a part of those of Peto, Colotmul, and Zuccacab, after having con- ferred together, declared it necessary to cite

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the governors of the villages, and we an- swered that they should come to this audiencia of Mani, each one bringing with him two regidores to be present at the divi- sion of the lands Don Juan Canul, governor of Nunkini, and Francisco Ci, his colleague; D. Juan Cocom, governor of Ticoh, D. Gaspar Tun of Cosuma, Don Juan Cocom, governor of Sotuta, D. Gonzalo Tuyn, governor of Tixcacab, D. Juan Han of Yaxcacab; these received the donation on the fifth day from Merida, consisting of one hundred paties of fine sheets, each pati or cotton cloth, and thus they continued re- ceiving by twenties for a beginning, being rolled up by Juan Nic, Pedro May, and Pedro Coba, assembled in the house of Don Francisco Monte jo Xiu, governor of the village of Mani; three arrobas of wax, which were sold by them, Don Juan Cocom of Zotuta having first received them. In Tal- chaquillo, on the road to Merida, toward the north of said village, the cross was planted, and called Hoal. In Sacmuyalna they put a cross; this is the limit of the lands of those of Ticoh. In Kochilha a cross was placed. In Cisinil, Toyotha, Chulul Ytza, Ocansip, and Tiphal, crosses were placed; this is the boundary of the milpas and the lands of those of Maxcanu-al Canules. In Kaxabceh Chacnocac, Calam, Sactos, are the limits of

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the fields of the Canules, and there crosses were placed. In Zemesahal and in Opal were planted crosses: these are the limits of the grounds of the villagers of Kilhini and Becal. In Yaxche, Sucilha Xcalchen, Te- hico Sahcabchen Xbacal, Opichen, crosses were planted. Twenty-two is the number of the places marked, and they returned to raise new landmarks, by the command of the judge, Felipe Manriques, specially com- missioned by his excellency the governor, when he arrived at Uxmal, accompanied by his interpreter, Gaspar Antonio," etc.

Stephens omitted the rest of the document. See Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, vol. n, pp. 266-267.

[Indian Map of Mani.]

In the same volume as the above. "The original is a sheet of foolscap paper dated 1557. containing a map with Mani in the center. Uxmal appears near the bottom, and in place of the conventional church used to indicate the other places on the map, a building with three doorways and a fagade, a typical Maya building, is shown with the name 'Uxmal' below." Reproduced by Stephens, ibid., vol. II, opposite p. 264

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1581

Bote, Juan. Relation de Teav-Y-Tec y Tiscolum. Colection de Docu- ments Ineditos Relativos al Descn- brimiento, Conquista y Organization de las Antiguas Posesiones Espanoles de Ultramar, Segunda Serie, t. xi, Relaciones de Yucatan, I, Relacion xxiv, p. 287, Madrid, 1894.

This is a report made in 1581. Section xiiii reads: "At one time all of this land vas under the dominion of a lord, and al- though with the change and succession of time, which have been many, the last lord of them was a Tutulxiu, from whom de- scended the native lords of the said town of Mani of the Royal crown, and this [one] subject to all the lords of the land more by craft than by war, they say that the first of them [was] called Hunuilkilchic, lord of Uxmal, a very ancient settlement, very re- markable in edifices usual in Mexico, and from there he entered into all the other provinces and from his greatness and personality it is said that he was very learned in native things and in his time taught them to till the lands. He divided the months of the year, and he taught them the letters

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[hieroglyphic writing] which were used in the said province of Mani when the conquerors entered the land, and little by little the said Tutulxius came to command all the lands very much to the liking of the natives.''

1588

Ciudad Real, Ft. Antonio. Relacion breve y verdaderade algunas cosas de las muchas que sucedieron al Padre Fray Alonso Ponce en las prov'ncias de la Nueva Espafia, siendo Com- isario General de aquellas partes. Tratanse algunas particularidades de aquella tierra, y dicese su ida a ella y vuelta a Espafia, con algo de lo que en el viaje le acontecio hasta volver a su Provincia de Castilla. Escrita por dos Religiosos, sus compafieros, el uno de los cuales le acompano desde Espafia a Mexico, y el otro en todos los demas caminos que hizo y trabajos que paso. Ahora por pri- mera vez impresa. Tomo II, pp. 455- 461. Coleccion de Documentos In- editos para la Ilistoria de Espafia, t. lviii, Madrid, 1875.

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Father Alonso Ponce came to America in 1584 as Commissary General. His visit to Uxmal was made just before he left Yucatan to return to Spain. On his travels he was accompanied by two priests, said to have written the above report as indicated in the title. These two priests were Fray Alonso de San Juan, who accompanied him from Spain, and Fray Antonio de Ciudad Real, who joined him in Mexico and was with him in all his travels. Fr Ciudad Real un- questionably wrote the account of their travels in Yucatan, and he is one of the great figures in the literary and ecclesiastical his- tory of Yucatan, but his numerous works have not been published. His great work on the Mayan language was called " Calepino de la Lengua Maya 6 Yucateca," on which he was engaged for forty years. The work of this priest is described by both Fr Bernardo de Lizana, who knew him, and Fr Cogolludo. According to Lizana he wrote, while acting as general secretary of the Commissary Gen- eral, a "Tratado curioso y docto de las grandezas de la Nueva Espana." This may well be the work, recently published, con- taining the account of the ruins of Uxmal.

The report states that, "On Tuesday, the thirteenth of October, the Father Commis- sary left Calkini at two o'clock in the morning, and leaving the road which leads

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to Merida, he took [the road] for Mani and Oxkutzcab, and traveling six leagues of good road, arrived early at some ranchos or houses of thatch, which the Indians of the district of Mani with their keeper had made near some ancient edifices, very renowned in that land, which were called Uxmal." The de- scription of the buildings of Uxmal con- tained in this record of the travels of Ponce is one of the few sixteenth-century accounts of Mayan cities that have come down to us, and it is by far the most important and extensive. We reprint the translation pub- lished by Spinden in his Study of Maya Art.

"Of the very renowned edifices of Uxmal.

"On the north of the ranchos where the father delegate was lodged, as has been seen, which is about twenty leagues from Merida, to the south of that city, stands a ku or mul, very tall and made by hand. It is very difficult to ascend this by its one hundred and fifty stone steps, which are very steep and which, from their being very old, are very dilapidated. On the top of this mul a large building has been built, consisting of two vaulted rooms, made of stone and lime, the stones being carved with great care on the outside. In old times they took the Indians who were to be sacrificed to these rooms, and there they killed them and offered them to the idols. The father delegate went up

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this mul as soon as he arrived there, and this surprised the others greatly, since many others did not dare to go up and could not have done so if they had tried. Close to this mul and behind it on the west, there are lower down many other buildings built in the same way with stone and lime and with arches. The stones are carved with wonder- ful delicacy, some of them having fallen and others badly injured and ruined, while others can still be seen, and there is much in them worth examining. Among these there are four very large and handsome buildings set in a square form, and in the middle is a square plaza, in which grew a thicket of large and small trees, and even on top of the building there were very large and dense trees growing. The building which faces the south, has on the outside four rooms, and on the inside eight others, all arched with cut stone, and as carefully joined and put to- gether as if very skilful workers of the present had built them. These arches, and all the other old arches which have been found in the province, are not rounded over in the form of a cupola nor like those which are made in Spain, but are tapered as the funnels of chimneys are made when built in the middle of a room, before the flue begins, since both sides draw together little by little and the space between becomes more narrow,

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till on the top one wall is separated from the other by about two feet and there they place a layer, which extends inwards four or five inches on each side, and over this they place flags or thin flat stones in a level position, and with these the arch is closed, so that there is no key to the arch, but with the great weight of stone and mortar, which is placed on top and which strengthens the sides, the arch is closed and remains fixed and strong. The ends of this arched build- ing are continuous and straight from top to bottom. At the door of each of the rooms of this building on the inside, there are four rings of stone, two on one side and two on the other, — two of them being high up and two lower down and all coming out of the same wall. The Indians say that from these rings those who lived in these buildings hung curtains and portieres, and it was to be noticed that no one of these rooms, nor of all the others, which we found there, had any window, small or large. The rooms were therefore rather dark, especially when they were made double, one behind the other, so that even in this, this idolatrous race gave evidence of the darkness and obscurity of the error in which it was en- shrouded. The high lintels of all these doors were made of the wood of the chico zapote, which is very strong and slow to decay, as

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could well be seen, since most of them were whole and sound, although they had been in position from time immemorial, according to the statements of the old Indians. The door jambs were of stone carved with great deli- cacy. On the facades of the building, both on those which face the plaza or courtyard, as well as on those which face outward, there are many figures of serpents, idols and shields, many screens or latticework, and many other carvings which are very beauti- ful and fine, especially if one look at them from a distance like a painting of Flanders, and they are all carved from the same kind of stone. In the middle of this building a great arch is made, so that it takes in all the depth of the building, and therefore it is the entrance to the courtyard or the above- mentioned plaza. It would appear that this entrance had been plastered and that on the plaster paintings had been made in blue, red and yellow color, since even now some of them remain and can be seen. Nearly all the rest of the stones had been plastered but not painted.

"The building which stands at the west, behind the previously mentioned mound of sacrifices, was in the best condition and un- injured. It had four doors which opened on to the courtyard or plaza with as man> rooms, arched in the same way as the others

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and beyond each room was another, so that there were eight in all. Between these four doors, two on one side and two on the other, there was still another door which opened on the patio, and within this was a very large hall, long and broad, with two small rooms on the sides; and beyond this hall there was another — a little smaller, with two other small rooms — one on each side, so that inside of this one door there were six rooms, four small and two large, making, with the other eight, fourteen rooms which this building contained. On the inside facades and ends of this building, there were carved many serpents in stone, and heads of savages and other figures in the manner of shields, and at the four corners (since each building stood by itself and not joined or connected with the other) there were many other carvings cut in the round like a half curve, with tips, which looked like serpent heads, and which stood at half a vara from the rest of the carvings.

"The building on the north is the tallest, and has more carvings and figures of idols, serpents and shields and other very beautiful things about it, but it is very much injured and the most of it has fallen. It has ten doors which open on the plaza and another which opens on the eastern end, and inside each one there are two rooms, and so among them

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all there are twenty-two rooms in that build- ing made of stone and lime, and arched like the others, but the most of them, especially those inside, have fallen. Before the ten doors above mentioned there has been made a terrace, paseo, or walking-place, somewhat broad and open on all sides, to which one ascends from the plaza by steps which are now half in ruins. All this terrace has below it other arched rooms with doors opening on the same plaza, and these are covered and stopped up with stones and earth and with large trees which have grown there.

"The building on the west is very elegant and beautiful on the outside fagade, which looks on the plaza, since serpents made of stone extend over the whole of it so as to enclose it from end to end, making many turns and knots, and they finally end with the head of one of them, on one end of the building, joined with the tail of the other, and the same thing happens on the other end of the building. There are also many figures of men and idols, other figures of monkeys, and of skulls and different kinds of shields — all carved in stone. There are also over the doors of the rooms some statues of stone with maces or sticks in their hands, as if they were mace-bearers, and there are bodies of naked Indians with their masleles (which are the old-fashioned loin-clothes of

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all New Spain, like breeches), by which it is shown that these buildings were built by Indians. In this building are seven doors, of which six open on the patio and the sev- enth on the end which faces the north, and inside of each door are two rooms, so that there are fourteen rooms in all, arched like the others.

"Besides these four buildings, there is on the south of them distant from them about an arquebus shot, another very large building built on a mul or hill made by hand, with abundance of buttresses on the corners, made of massive carved stones. The ascent of this mul is made with difficulty, since the staircase by which the ascent is made is now almost destroyed. The building, which is raised on this mul, is of extraordinary sumptuousness and grandeur, and, like the others, very fine and beautiful. It has on its front, which faces the east, many figures and bodies of men and of shields and of forms like the eagles which are found on the arms of the Mexicans, as well as of certain characters and letters which the Maya Indians used in old times — all carved with so great dexterity as surely to excite admira- tion. The other facade, which faces the west, showed the same carving, although more than half the carved part had fallen. The ends stood firm and whole with their

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four corners much carved in the round, like those of the other building below. There are in this building fifteen doors, of which eleven face the east, two the west and one each face the north and south, and within these doors there are twenty-four rooms arched like the others. Two of these rooms are in the northern end, and two others in the southern end, while two are in the west front, and all the rest in the eastern front — all made with special accuracy and skill.

"The Indians do not know surely who built these buildings nor when they were built, though some of them did their best in trying to explain the matter, but in doing so showed foolish fancies and dreams, and nothing fitted into the facts or was satis- factory. The truth is that today the place is called Uxmal, and an intelligent old Indian declared to the father delegate that, according to what the ancients had said, it was known that it was more than nine hun- dred years since the buildings were built. Very beautiful and strong they must have been in their time, and 'it is well known from this that many people worked to build them, as it is clear that the buildings were occupied, and that all about them was a great popu- lation, since this is now evident from the ruins and remains of many other buildings, which are seen from afar: but the father

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delegate did not go to these ruins, since the thicket was very close and dense, and there was no opportunity to open and clear out a path so as to reach them. And now they all serve only as dwellings and nests for bats and swallows and other birds, whose drop- pings fill the rooms with an odor more disgusting than delightful. There is no well there, and the farmers of the vicinity carry their drinking water from some little pools of rain-water which there are in that region. It may be easily suspected that these build- ings were depopulated for want of water, although others say that this is not so, but that the inhabitants departed for another country, leaving the wells which were there choked up."

1595

Books of Chilam Balam.

In the Books of Chilam Balam, called by Brinton "The Maya Chronicles," we find mention of Uxmal. The first publication of one of these ancient records, the Book of Chilam Balam of Mani, is in Stephens' Incidents of Travel in Yucatan (vol. II, app.), the first edition of which was published in New York in 1843. A copy of the manu- script, with a translation into Spanish and with notes, was furnished Stephens by the learned Yucatecan antiquary Don Pio Perez.

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The Spanish translation of the original Maya text was translated into English by Stephens, and appears opposite the Maya text (pp. 465-469). According to Brinton, who has published it in his Maya Chronicles (pp. 89- 135). from a copy made by Dr Carl Hermann Berendt, with a new English translation, the Book of Chilam Balam of Mani was un- doubtedly composed not later than 1595, as is proved by internal evidence (op. cit. p. 70). This chronicle is often called the Codex Perez. An independent translation was made by Brasseur de Bourbourg and published as an appendix to his edition of the work of Landa in 1864. A study of this manuscript was made by Dr Valentini in his Katunes of Maya History, in Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, 1880.

The reference to Uxmal is, " In the Katun the second ahau Ahcuitok Tutulxiu founded [the city of] Uxmal." (Brinton, Maya Chron- icles, p. 102.)

In the Book of Chilam Balam of Tizimin the data of the foundation of Uxmal is given differently. Brinton's translation of the Maya text is, "The tenth ahau; Ahzuitok Tutulxiu founded Uxmal: ten score years had passed when they established the terri- tory of Uxmal." (Ibid., p. 146.)

In the Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel it is stated that, "The twelfth ahau: the

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stone of Otzmal was taken." (Brinton, op. cit. , p. 1 7 1 .) This work has been reproduced in facsimile, with an introduction by George Byron Gordon, in Anthropological Publica- tions of the University of Pennsylvania, vol. v, Philadelphia, 19 13. The reference to Otz- mal may, however, be Izamal instead of Uxmal.

1639

Sanchez de Aguilar, Pedro. Informe

contra idolorum cultores del Obis-

pado de Yucatan. Madrid, 1639.

Segunda edicion, Mexico, 1892.

Sanchez de Aguilar speaks of "the great, famous, and astounding edifices of stone and mortar, and hewn stone, figures and statues of carved stone left in Oxumal [Uxmal] and Chichiniza, which may be seen today, and [the buildings] may be lived in." He further states that the Yucatecans had been vassals of the Mexicans for six hundred years before the coming of the Spaniards (Segunda edicion, p. 94). Pedro Sanchez de Aguilar was a descendant of the conquistadores Hernan Sanchez de Castilla and Hernan de Aguilar, and was born in the peninsula of Yucatan in 1555. His work on the idolatries of the Indians was commenced in 16 13 and completed in 16 15.

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1673

[Title Deeds. (MS.)]

Stephens states that he saw the title deeds, dated 1673, of the estate of Uxmal, at that time the property of Don Simon Peon. He writes:

"They were truly a formidable pile, com- pared with which the papers in a protracted chancery or ejectment suit would seem a billet-doux, and, unfortunately, a great por- tion of them was in the Maya language; but there was one folio volume in Spanish, and in this was the first formal conveyance ever made of these lands by the Spanish government. It bears date the twelfth day of May, 1673, and is entitled a testimonial of royal favor made to the Regidor Don Lorenzo de Evia, of four leagues of land {desde los edificios de Uxmal) from the buildings of Uxmal to the south, one to the east, another to the west, and another to the north, for his distinguished merits and services therein expressed. The preamble sets forth that the Regidor Don Lorenzo de Evia, by a writing that he presented to his majesty, made a narrative showing that at sixteen leagues from Merida, and three from the sierra of Ticul, were certain meadows and places named Uxmalchecaxek, Tzem- chan - Cemin - Curea - Kusultzac, Exmuue-

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UXMAL

Hixmon-nec, uncultivated and belonging to the crown, which the Indians could not profit by for tillage and sowing, and which could only serve for horned cattle; that the said regidor had a wife and children whom it was necessary for him to maintain for the service of the king in a manner conforming to his office, and that he wished to stock the said places and meadows with horned cattle, and praying a grant of them for that purpos? in the name of his majesty, since no injury could result to any third person, but, 'on the contrary, very great service to God our Lord, because with that establishment it would prevent the Indians in those places from worshipping the devil in the ancient buildings which are there, having in them their idols, to which they burn copal, and performing other detestable sacrifices, as they are doing every day notoriously and publicly.'" — Stephens, Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, vol. I, pp. 322-323.

1687-1688

[Claims to Land. (MS.)]

Stephens also was shown other later docu- ments which he describes as follows:

"Following this is a later instrument, dated the third of December, 1687, the pre- amble of which recites the petition of Cap- tain Lorenzo de Evia, setting forth the grant above referred to, and that an Indian named

IX

INDIAN NOTES

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83

Juan Can had importuned him with a claim of right to the said lands on account of his being a descendant of the ancient Indians, to whom they belonged; that the Indian had exhibited some confused papers and maps, and that, although it was not possible for him to justify the rights that he claimed, to avoid litigation, he, the said Don Lorenzo de Evia, agreed to give him seventy-four dollars for the price and value of the said land. The petition introduces the deed of consent, or quit-claim, of Juan Can, executed with all the formalities required in the case of Indians (the original of which appears among the other title papers), and prays a confirmation of his former grant, and to be put in real and corporeal possession. The instrument confirms the former grant, and prescribes the formal mode of obtaining possession.

"Under the deed of confirmation appears the deed of livery of seisin, beginning, 'In the place called the edifices of Uxmal and its lands, the third day of the month of January, 1688,' etc., and concluding with the words: 'In virtue of the power and authority which by the same title is given to me by the said governor, complying with its terms, I took by the hand the said Lorenzo de Evia, and he walked with me all over Uxmal and its buildings, opened and shut

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UXMAL

some doors that had several rooms, cut within the space some trees, picked up fallen stones and threw them down, drew some water from one of the aguadas of the said place of Uxmal, and performed other acts of possession.'" — Stephens, Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, vol. I, pp. 323-324.

1688

Cogolludo, Fr. Diego Lopez de. His- toria de Yucathan. Sacala a luz Franciso de Ayeta. Madrid, 1688.

Second edition, under the title: Los tres siglos de la dominacion Espanola en Yucatan, tomo 1, Cam- peche, 1842; tomo II, Merida, 1845.

Third edition, under the title:

Historia de Yucatan escrita en el

siglo XVII por el R. P. Fr. Diego

Lopez Cogolludo, tomo 1, Merida,

1867; tomo 11, Merida, 1868.

Uxmal is mentioned in the third edition in tomo 1, libro 4, cap. ii, pp. 284-285; also in cap. vii, pp. 31 1-3 12. The first men- tioned notice of Uxmal contained in Cogo- lludo is:

"In Uxmal there is a large patio with many rooms separated in the form - of a

IX

INDIAN NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

85

cloister, where these virgins lived. It is a work worthy of admiration, because the exterior of the walls is all of worked stones, where there are brought out figures of armed men in bas-relief, a diversity of animals, birds, and other things, and it has not been made out who were the artificers, nor how they were worked in this land. All of the four fronts of the buildings of that patio (that might be called a plaza) are encircled by a snake worked in the same stone as the walls, the tail terminating under the head, and being in all its circuit four hundred feet [long].

"At the southern part of this edifice there is another which it is said were the dwelling of the lord of the land: it is not in the form of a cloister, but is made of the stone worked with the figures mentioned in the other, and there are many smaller [houses] near there, which they say were houses of the captains and principal lords. In the one on the south side there is a wall in the interior of the building which, although it is very extensive, a little over half a man's stature in height, has on its full length a cornice of very smooth stone which makes a very fine corner, even and very perfect, where I remember there was made of the same stone and remained in it [the wall] a ring as thin and handsome as can be made of gold worked

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UXMAL

in the most beautiful manner: absolute proof that they were made by perfect artists. Who they were we do not know, nor have the Indians any tradition of them."

The second mention of Uxmal by Cogo- lludo is:

"They have many sumptuous temples in many parts of this Tierra Firme, of which there remain today parts of their edifices, like which are in Vxmal or Vxumual, in Chichen Ytza, .... They raised from the ground a terrace (or mound) , the founda- tion of the edifice, which is of pyramidal form, on which there rise steps, although they do not terminate with this [pyramid], for on the top there is a small square on which there are situated, separated a short distance, two small chapels in which are the idols; this is the case in that of Vxumual, and there they make their sacrifices of men as well as of women and children, and of the other things. Some of these [temples] have a height of more than one hundred steps, of a little more than half a foot wide, each one. I ascended one time the one of Vxumual, and when I had to descend, I repented because, as the steps are so narrow and so many in number, and as the edifice rises almost straight up, and since the height is not slight going down, one gets dizzy and it is some- what dangerous. I found there in one of

IX

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87

two chapels, offerings of cacao, and marks of copal, which is their incense, burned there but a short time before, an evidence of some superstition or idolatry recently committed, although we could not find out anything about it among all of us who were there. God help those poor Indians, for the devil deceives them very easily."

l822

Cabrera, Dr Paul Felix. Description of the ruins of an ancient city, dis- covered near Palenque, in the King- dom of Guatemala in Spanish Amer- ica: translated from the original manuscript report of Captain Don Antonio Del Rio. Followed by: Teatro Critico Americano, a critical investigation and research into the history of the Americans by Doctor Felix Cabrera of the city of Guate- mala. London.

In the report of Antonio Del Rio (pp. 6-7) he states that he received an account of Yucatan from Rev. Father Thomas de Soza, a Franciscan friar of the convent at Merida, and the following notice regarding Uxmal appears :

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UXMAL

"At the distance of twenty leagues from the city of Merida southward, between the curacy called Mona y Ticul and the town of Nocacab, are the remains of some stone edifices: one very large building has with- stood the ravages of time, and still exists in good preservation: the natives give it the name of Oxmutal. It stands on an emi- nence of twenty yards in height, and mea- sures two hundred yards on each facade. The apartments, the exterior corridor, the pillars with figures in medio relievo, and decorated with serpents, lizards, etc., formed in stucco, beside which are statues of men with palms in their hands in the act of beat- ing drums and dancing, resemble in every respect those observable at Palenque."

This is the earliest modern printed notice regarding Uxmal which we have found. The report is dated Palenque, June 24, 1787.

1825

Warden, David B. Description des

ruines decouvertes pres de Palenque.

Recueil de Voyages et Memoires

publies par la Societe de Geographie,

Paris, tome II.

The greater part of this article was ab- stracted from the work of Cabrera. The Soza notice of Uxmal is on pp. 176-177.

IX

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

89

1825

Buchon, J. A. Atlas geographique, statistique, historique et chronolo- gique des deux Ameriques et les iles adjacentes; traduit de l'atlas exe- cute en Amerique d'apres Lesage. Paris. (Folio.)

1834

Zavala, Lorenzo de. Notice sur les monuments antiques d'Ushmal, dans la province de Yucatan, fournie par M. Lorenzo de Zavala, Ambassadeur du Mexique en France. In Anti- quites Mexicaines, relation des trots expeditions du Capitaine Dupaix, etc., Paris, Premiere partie, Notes et documents divers, tome 1, no. VI, PP- 33-35- (Folio.)

1838

Waldeck, Frederick. Voyage pittor- esque et archeologique dans la prov- ince d' Yucatan (Amerique Centrale), pendant les annees 1834 et 1836. Paris. (Folio.)

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UXMAL

Uxmal, or "Itzalane," is treated on pp. 67-74. A plan of the ruins is given in pi. viii, and views and plans of some of the temples are in pi. ix-xvii. In pi. xvii are three stone heads from the ruins. Descrip- tions of these plates are on pp. 93-104. Waldeck was at Uxmal in 1835. His illus- trations are beautifully drawn, but are not very accurate, notwithstanding the assertion by Bancroft (Native Races, vol. iv, Antiqui- ties, note 2, p. 145) that they "are remark- able for their accuracy."

1841

Friedrichstal, Emmanuel de. Les monuments de l'Yucatan. Nouvelles Annates des Voyages, Paris, tome quatrieme, annee 1841, tome 92, pp. 291-314.

This article is a digest of the researches of Friedrichstal, written by Eyries. Uxmal is described on pp. 306-312. In tomo 11 of Registro Yucateco, published in Merida in 1845, there is a brief mention of Uxmal in a letter written to D. Justo Sierra in Merida, treating of his travels in Yucatan. It was published also in the second and third editions of Cogolludo, and bears the date 1841.

IX

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

91

Stephens, John Lloyd. Incidents of

travel in Central America, Chiapas,

and Yucatan. New York. 2 vols.

The account of Uxmal appears in vol. 11,

pp. 410-435. 3 pl-

This work was the first to place before the general reader, in a fascinating book of travels, the wonderful ruined cities of Cen- tral America, with splendid drawings of a number of the ruined buildings and sculp- tures. Stephens, accompanied by Frederick Catherwood, an English artist, left New York in October, 1839, for Central America. Catherwood writes that the "only object of our journey [was] an exploration of the ruined cities of Central America, the appoint- ment of Mr Stephens as Special Confidential Agent from the United States, having taken place but a very short time previous to our leaving, and after all our arrangements were completed." On this trip the explorers went first to Guatemala, visiting Copan, which at that time was in Guatemala territory; thence into Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, following the Pacific coast. Returning to Guatemala they went overland into south- ern Mexico, visiting the ruins of Ococingo and Palenque. Coming out by way of the Gulf of Mexico, they spent a few days in Yucatan the latter part of June, 1841. At

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UXMAL

this time it was their intention to explore Uxmal, but they were able to spend only a couple of days at the ruins, owing to the violent attack of fever which Catherwood suffered, so that they were obliged to leave the ruins and set sail immediately for the United States. They left Yucatan on June 24, in a sailing vessel, arriving in New York on July 31.

1843

Stephens, John Lloyd. Incidents of travel in Yucatan. New York. 2 vols.

Uxmal is described in vol. 11, pp. 147-187, 293-328; 11 pi., 9 figs.

This is the most extended and important account of the ruins of Uxmal, and contains historical material which we reprint under the years 1556, 1557, 1673, and 1687-1688.

Stephens and Catherwood left New York in October, 1841, and remained in Yucatan until June, 1842. They went to Uxmal on November 15, and Catherwood remained at the ruins until January 1, 1842, Stephens meanwhile making several visits from the site to other ruins. On his first visit to Uxmal the year before, Stephens was pre- sented by the owner of Uxmal with a sculp- ture from the House of the Governor, a death's-head with long feathers. On the second trip to Yucatan he made a consider-

IX

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

93

able collection of antiquities from various ruins, among them being several sculptured lintels, notably from the House of the Governor, described in Incidents of Travel in Central America, vol. n, pp. 432-433, and Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, vol. 1, pp. 178-179. This beam, with the other lintels, "as also the whole collection of vases, figures, idols, and other relics gathered upon this journey," were destroyed in a fire in New York, where they were being exhibited in a panorama of Thebes and Carthage, painted by Catherwood. The Uxmal stone sculpture above mentioned was fortunately not in this exhibition, as Stephens writes that a collection of large sculptured stones had not been received at that time. These sculptures, as well as the death's-head, were presented by Stephens to Mr John A. Cruger, who built a small roofless stone building on a point of Cruger island in Hudson river. In the walls of this structure the sculptures, sixteen in number, were embedded. The two largest and most important were splendid slabs from the ruins of Kabah; the majority, however, were from Uxmal. They remained at this place, unknown to archeologists, for many years, when finally they were acquired by the American Museum of Natural His- tory in 19 19, and are now among the collec- tions of that institution.

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UXMAL

In 1895 Mrs Richard P. Dana gave to the same Museum a massive, much defaced stone death's-head from Uxmal, which was pre- sented by Stephens to her brother-in-law, who was a fellow-passenger on the sailing vessel which brought the party from Yuca- tan. It formerly had a nose, but it was broken off on the voyage, the sculpture hav- ing been carelessly stored on the deck.

When the Le Plongeons were exploring Uxmal in the seventies, Dr Le Plongeon cut from the central facade of the House of the Governor a small, excellently carved, human head, which was a part of the central design of the front of the building. This he sold to the American Museum of Natural His- tory, where it is now exhibited. Several years ago some natives discovered in a room formed by one of the two set-in arches of the western side of the House of the Governor, two magnificent painted stucco human heads, described by Gann (19 18), which are now in the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation. (See herein under 191 8.)

The great interest aroused by the publica- tion of Stephens' two works is shown by the number of editions in which the volumes were printed. Of the first work, Incidents of Travel in Central America, twelve editions were printed within a year, and with a slight change in the imprint only, it was issued in

IX

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

95

New York in 1841, 1842, 1845, 1846, 1848, 1851, 1852, 1855, 1858, i860, 1863, and 1867, all of which reprints are titled "Twelfth edition." There are also London editions of 1841, 1842, 1843, 1844.

The work on Yucatan was also reprinted, with slight variations in imprint, in New York in 1847, 1848, 1855, 1856, 1858, i860, and 1868. There is also a London edition, published by John Murray in 1843.

Norman, B. M. Rambles in Yucatan, or notes of travel through the penin- sula, including a visit to the remark- able ruins of Chi-Chen, Kabah, Zayi, Uzmal, &c. New York.

Norman went to Yucatan in December, 1 84 1, and was at Uxmal from February 25 to March 4, according to his own account. He apparently "trailed" Stephens and Cather- wood, taking advantage of their clearing around the ruins. He writes of Uxmal on pp. 154-167, 199. There are a plan of the ruins, five plates showing the edifices, and five text figures. The popular interest aroused at this time in the subject of the ruined cities of Yucatan is indicated by the fact that Norman's work appeared in seven editions within a few years following the original publication.

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96 UXMAL

1844

Catherwood, Frederick. Views of ancient monuments in Central Amer- ica and Yucatan by F. Catherwood, Arch*. London. Also New York. (Folio.)

In the Introduction some ot the buildings of Uxmal are briefly described on pp. 7-8, and the rapid growth of vegetation is com- mented on. PI. 8-15 illustrate some of the edifices, but these are not the same illus- trations as those published by Stephens, with the exception of pi. 14, the northern end of the western range of the "Monjas" group, which reproduces Stephens' plate opposite p. 302, the only difference being that the drawing published by Catherwood is more highly finished and detailed.

An original painting by Catherwood has been long in possession of the American Geo- graphical Society of New York. It has now 1 been lent to the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, and is exhibited in the hall devoted to Mexican and Central American antiquities. This painting repre- sents the western section of the northern range of the "Monjas" group, and until now has remained unpublished. It measures 3 ft. 5 in. long and 1 ft. 9 in. high. We re-

IX INDIAN NOTES

. BIBLIOGRAPHY

NORTHERN BUILDING OF THE " MONJAS " GROUP, UXMAL From on unpublished painting by Frederick Catherwood in 1841

	^i'Mt^^^m
w^' '::r:	' T -1 ■%-:. :^;, ' '
	^- 4Kf*:«i
-	■■ 1
	'•■\ i

NORTHERN BUILDING OF THE " MONJAS " GROUP, UXMAL ,„nh ms>j„ in I 888 by Henry M. Sweet for the Peabody Museum, Harvard Un

GENERAL VIEW OF THE NORTHERN PART OF THE "MONJAS" GROUP, UXMAL From a photograph made in I 888 by Henry M Sweet for the Peabody Museum, Harvard University

OF THE NORTHERN PART OF THE "MONJAS" GROUP, m a photograph made in I 9 I 9 by George Oakley Totten, Jr.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

97

produce it in pi. i. In Catherwood's Views, pi. 15 shows a section of this painting with slight variations in the composition of the group of people in the foreground. It shows only two of the doorways, whereas the one we now reproduce gives the entire western half of the building. Our pi. 11 presents this building from a photograph made by Henry M. Sweet in 1888 for the Peabody Museum, Harvard University; it is the same section given by Catherwood. PI. in, a photograph also made by Mr Sweet, is a view of the entire structure, showing also the front of the western and the back of the eastern buildings of the "Monjas" group. It was taken from the pyramid of the House of the Dwarfs, or, as it is also called, Casa del Adivino. PI. iv is the same view reproduced from a photo- graph made in 19 19 by Maj. George Oakley Totten, Jr. It exhibits the present condi- tion of the building, cleared of vegetation by the Mexican Inspector of Monuments. Changes will be noted in the two photo- graphs in the ruined building in the middle foreground of pi. in and the lower right-hand corner of pi. iv, a section of the middle end having fallen during the last thirty-one years.

Muhlenpfordt, Eduard. Versuch ein- er getruen Schilderung de Republik Mejico. Hannover. 2 vols. A mere mention of Uxmal appears in

AND MONOGRAPHS

98	UXMAL
	Zweiter Band, p. 12, which gives the name as Uchmal. Miihlenpfordt spent seven years in Mexico, but evidently did not visit Yucatan. 1845 L.G. Una visita a las ruinas de Uxmal. Registro Yucateco, Merida, tomo 1, PP- 275-279- M.F.P. Una incursion al interior. Reg- istro Yucateco, Merida, tomo I, pp. 361-370. Describes a visit to Uxmal. Un Curioso (pseudonym). Dos dias en Nophat. Registro Yucateco, Merida, tomo 11, pp. 261-272. This article is dated May 25, 1845, and is largely a dialogue relating to the traditional history of Uxmal. We quote Bancroft's paraphrase of it in another place (pp. 59—60). 1848-1850 Stephens, John Lloyd. Viaje a Yuca- tan a fines de 1841 y principios de 1842. Consideraciones sobre los usos, costumbres y vida social de
IX	INDIAN NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

99

este pueblo, y examen y descripcion de las vastas ruinas y ciudades Americanas que en el existen. Obra que, con el titulo de ''Incidents of Travel in Yucatan" escribio en ingles Mr, John L. Stephens, y la traduce al castellano, con algunas notas ocasionales, D. Justo Sierra. Tomo T> 373 + xxrv PP-» Campeche, 1848; tomo 11, 409 pp., Campeche, 1850.

In this Mexican edition no maps, plans, or pictures are given, but it is of importance for the annotations made by the translator, Don Justo Sierra, father of the late Minister of Public Instruction in Mexico, of the same name.

1853

Heller, Carl. Reisen in Mexiko in

den Jahren 1845-1848. Leipzig.

For Uxmal, see 2d Abschnitt, chap, xvn, pp. 255-268. Heller spent three days in Uxmal in April 1847.

Stephens, John Lloyd. Begebenheiten auf einer Reise in Yucatan. Deutsch von Dr. N. N. W. Meissner. 116 Abbildungen, 10 Planen, und einer

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UXMAL

Karte von Yucatan. Leipzig, xviii, 438 pp. 8°.

A German translation of Incidents of Travel in Yucatan.

1854

Stephens, John Lloyd. Reiseerleb- nisse in Centralamerika, Chiapas und Yucatan. Nach der zwolften Auflage ins Deutsche Ubertragen von Eduard Hoepfner. Mit einer Karte, Planen und zahlreichen Illustra- tionen. Leipzig, xiv, 554 pp., ill. 8°.

A German translation of Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan.

Stephens, John Lloyd, and Cather- wood, Frederick. Incidents of travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan. By the late John Lloyd Stephens. Revised from the latest American edition, with addi- tions, by Frederick Catherwood. London. (1 vol.) The account of Uxmal is chapter xli, pp.

IX

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

101

515-526, 3 ill. The only revision made by Catherwood is the omission of the para- graph at the bottom of page 433 and the top of page 434. This referred to a "sculptured ornament . . . introduced in one of the compartments of the plan" (plate opposite p. 429 of the original edition, and p. 522 of the revised edition). This sculpture had been removed by the owner of the estate, Don Simon Peon, who had "the intention of setting it up as an ornament on the front of his hacienda." Don Simon presented the sculpture to Stephens, and with a number of other pieces, notably the two great slabs from Kabah, it was sent to New York. (See note under Stephens, 1843.) The plates in this edition of Catherwood are from revised drawings, and in place of the plate given by Stephens opposite p. 434, showing a section of the northeast corner of the House of the Governor with a single doorway, Cather- wood gives (p. 526) a larger section of the same building with two doorways and a portion of one of the arches, with the terraced platform upon which the building stands.

1858

Brasseur de Bourbourg, Abbe. His- toire des nations civilisees du Mex-

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102

UXMAL

ique et Paris.

de rAm6rique-Centrale.

In tome second, chap, quatrieme, pp. 578- 591, Brasseur de Bourbourg gives an ex- tended account of the traditional history of Uxmal, taken, as he writes, from the article Dos Dias en Nophat (see entry under 1845) and from data furnished him by Sr Casares, "a well-informed Yucatecan, and former Deputy from his land to Mexico."

Charnay,

Yucatan, tome v.

i860

Desire.

Tour

Un voyage au du Monde, Paris,

On p. 344 is a view of the north range of the group'of the Monjas, and, on p. 352, an illustration of the east range of the same group.

1863

Charnay, Desire. Cites et ruines Americaines Mitla, Palenque, Iz- amal, Chichen-Itza, Uxmal . Re- cueillies et photographiees par Desire Charnay avec une texte par M.

IX

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

103

Viollet-le-Duc. of plates.)

Paris. (With atlas

The ruins of Uxmal are treated from an architectural point of view by Viollet-le-Duc, under the title "Antiquites Americaines," from a study of the photographs and notes made by Charnay, on pp. 61, 72, figs. 8-10. Charnay describes the ruins in the section "Le Mexique, 1858-1861, Souvenir et Im- pressions de Voyage," chap, xi, pp. 351-382.

The atlas is an oblong folio of 7 pp. and 49 pi. PL 35-49 are of Uxmal. PI. 35 is a view of the front of the pyramid of the "House of the Dwarf," also called the "House of the Diviner." PI. 36 shows the northern range of the "Monjas group," the view shown in our reproduction of Cather- wood's drawing. PI. 37-44 are other views of the four buildings of this group. PI. 45-47 present views of the "House of the Gover- nor," 45 being a double folding plate. PI. 48 is the "House of the Turtles," and 49 is a general view of the ruins looking south from the courtyard of the "Monjas group." The copy in the New York Public Library bears the date 1862. A copy is described in the catalogue of the Squier Library under the title ' ' Le Mexique et les Monuments Anciens,' 20 photographs. Paris, 1864."

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104 UXMAL

1865

Ramirez, Jose Fernando. Viaje a Yucatan y descripcion de sus ruinas. (MS.) Title cited in Biblioteca Historico- Americana, Mexico, 1898, p. xliii. (See 1887, Chavero.)

Ramirez, Jose Fernando. Extractos y

noticias de manuscritos relacionados

con la historia de Mexico. Tomo ill.

Contains a copy of the solicitation of Lorenzo de Evia, dated 1663 and 1667. Evidently the documents (1687-88) copied by Stephens and presented by him in Eng- lish.

1866

Viollet-le-Duc, M. Ciudades y ruinas Americanas, Mitla, Palenque, Iz- amal, Chichen-Itza, Uxmal. Mex- ico.

A translation by Jose Guzman of Anti- quites Americaines (1863). Uxmal is de- scribed on pp. 38-45.

1867

Brasseur de Bourbourg, Abbe. Ex- tract from a letter written in Mexico,

IX INDIAN NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

105

Jan. 27, 1865. Archives de la Com- mission scientifique du Mexique. Paris, tome 1, pp. 457-460.

In this letter Brasseur de Bourbourg writes of his visit to the ruins of Izamal and Uxmal, stating that he spent ten days at Uxmal with M. Bourgeois, apparently in December, 1864.

Brasseur de Bourbourg, Abbe. Essai historique sur le Yucatan et de- scription des ruines de Ti-Hoo (Mer- ida) et d' Izamal. Archives de la Commission scientifique du Mexique, Paris, tome II, pp. 18-64.

This report, dated Mexico, Feb. 24, 1865, contains numerous references to Uxmal. On p. 39 Brasseur de Bourbourg illustrates a small stone sculpture representing a human head, obtained by him in Uxmal.

Brasseur de Bourbourg, Abbe. Rap- port sur les ruines de Mayapan et Uxmal au Yucatan (Mexique). Ar- chives de la Commission scientifique du Mexique, Paris, tome 11, pp. 234- 288.

AND MONOGRAPHS

106

UXMAL

This includes an important report on Uxmal (pp. 249-288), with a folded plan of the ruins and four text illustrations. The author paid considerable attention to the ancient water-supply and to the outlying ruined structures.

1877

Salisbury, Stephen. The Mayas. The sources of their history. Proceed- ings of the American Antiquarian Society of April 26, 1876, and April 25, T^77i Worcester, Mass., pp. 18- 21.

The author spent the winter of 1861 in Yucatan, and his description refers to a visit to the ruins of Uxmal at that time, "in company with a party of sixteen gentle- men from Merida, of whom two only had seen them before."

1879

Varigny, C. V. C. DE. Uxmal. Madrid.

Title from Haebler. 1 891.)

1880

Rice, Allen Thorndike. of Central America.

Las ruinas de

(See item under

Ruined cities North Ameri-

IX

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

107

can Review, New York, vol. cclxxxv,

August, pp. 89-108.

An introduction by the editor of The North American Review to a series of articles by Desire Charnay describing his explora- tions among the ruined cities of Mexico and Central America during the years 1880- 1882. This expedition was under the auspices of the French Government and of Mr Pierre Lorillard, who defrayed the greater part of the expenses. Several of the buildings of Uxmal are described by Rice on pp. 100-103. ln the eleven articles which follow, Charnay does not describe his ex- plorations at Uxmal, except to state, in article x, that he "sent a party to Uxmal, under the direction of Mr Ayme [the United States Consul], to make casts of the in- scriptions in the Governor's Palace" (p. 411). Numerous reports of this expedition were published in different places and in various languages. The definitive account will be found in the French and English narratives published in 1885 and 1887.

Morgan, Lewis Henry. A study of the houses of the American aborigines; with suggestions for the examination of the ruins in New Mexico, Arizona, the valley of the San Juan, and in

AND MONOGRAPHS

108

UXMAL

Yucatan and Central America.

Archceological Institute of America, First Annual Report of the Executive Committee, 187Q-1880. Cambridge.

The above study occupies pp. 27-80. In it Mr Morgan attempts to show, based chiefly on the grouping of the ruins of Uxmal, that the ruined cities of Yucatan and Central America are to be classed as com- munal structures, "joint-tenement houses of the aboriginal American type." Uxmal ruins are treated on pp. 59-67, 77-78, figs. 18-22.

l88l

Morgan, Lewis Henry. Houses and house-life of the American aborigines. Contributions to North American Eth- nology, vol. IV, Washington.

This is an extended study, of which the entry under 1880 is simply a specially pre- pared article. Chapter ix, pp. 251-276, covers the "Ruins of houses of the sedentary Indians of Yucatan and Central America." The same arguments are adduced to prove the communal character of the Yucatan buildings. Uxmal is treated on pp. 256, 259-266, 275-276, figs. 50-54-

IX

INDIAN NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

109

Bancroft, Hubert Howe. The works of Hubert Howe Bancroft. Vol. IV, The Native Races: vol. iv, Antiqui- ties. San Francisco.

A resume (pp. 149-200) describing the ruins based on the works of various ex- plorers, with many illustrations. Valuable for its bibliographic notes.

Bancroft, Hubert Howe. Ibid. Vol. V, The Native Races: vol. v, Primi- tive History.

In chap, xiii, on the History of the Mayas in Yucatan, pp. 629-633, the traditional history of the reign of the Tutul Xiu family in Uxmal is discussed.

Catalogo de la Exposicion Ameri- canista. Madrid. Seccion primera, numeros 230-231.

Contains a notice of sculptures from the Casa del Gobernador and the Monjas group, taken from the ruins, now in the Museo Arqueologico de Madrid. Mentioned by Troncoso (1893), p. 41.

AND MONOGRAPHS

-. —

110

UXMAL

1884

Charnay, Desire. Voyage au Yucatan et au pays des Lacandons. Tour du Monde, Paris, tomes xlvij -xlviii.

A series of articles in 23 chapters. Uxmal is described in chap, xiv, pp. 59-64, with 5 iU.

Charnay, Desire. Viaje al Yucatan y al pais de los Lacandones. America Pintoresco, Barcelona, pp. 341-476.

This is a translation of the narrative pub- lished in Tour du Monde. Uxmal is de- scribed on pp. 416-422, 4 ill. A picture of the hacienda of Uxmal appearing in the French version is omitted.

Ober, Frederick A. Travels in Mex- ico, and life among the Mexicans. Boston.

Chap, in, Uxmal, pp. 56-81, 5 ill. The plate opposite p. 72, with the caption "Uxmal," should be Chichen Itza. Ober visited Uxmal in March 1881.

IX

INDIAN NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

111

1885

Le Plongeon, Alice D. The old and the new in Yucatan. Harper's Monthly, New York, Feb., pp. 372- 386.

An interesting account of Uxmal on pp. 376-381, with three views of the buildings.

Charnay, Desire. Les anciennes villes du nouveau monde voyages d'explor- ations au Mexique et dans l'Amer- ique Centrale par Desire Charnay 1857-1882. Paris.

Chap. 20, Uxmal, pp. 33i~349> 9 ill-

1887

Charnay, Desire. The ancient cities of the New World being voyages and explorations in Mexico and Central America from 1857-1882. Translated from the French by J. Gonino and Helen S. Conant. New York.

Uxmal, pp. 390-413, 9 ill.

AND MONOGRAPHS

112

UXMAL

Chavero, Alfredo. Mexico a traves

de los siglos. Tomo I, Primera

epoca. Historia antigua. Mexico. Barcelona.

For Uxmal, see cap. VI, pp. 424~433 5 cap. vii, pp. 436-456; 65 ill.

In prefacing the account of Uxmal, Chavero writes: "Generally in describing these prodigious ruins historians copy the magnificent description of Stephens; we more fortunately substitute the unpublished account of Don Jose Fernando Ramirez . . . the result of a visit made by him to Uxmal in 1865." The Ramirez report referred to by Chavero is still unpublished, except for the extracts relating to Uxmal. It is entitled " Viaje a Yucatan y descripcion de sus ruinas arqueologicas." See Biblioteca Historica- Americana Septentrional, Mexico, 1898, p. xliii. The Ramirez account published by Chavero contains detailed descriptions of the House of the Governor, pp. 424-429; House of the Turtles, pp. 436-438; Group of the Monjas, or Nunnery, pp. 442-452; House of the Doves, pp. 452-454- See 1865, Ramirez.

1888

Ober, Frederick A. Ancient cities of America. Bulletin of the American

IX

INDIAN NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

113

Geographical Society, New York, vol. xx, no. i.

Uxmal is described on pp. 62-65. 1889

Banks, David Saltonstall. A New

Yorker in Yucatan. Frank Leslie' s Popular Magazine, New York, vol. xxvii, no. 5.

Mr Banks gives an interesting description of the principal buildings at Uxmal, with an illustration of the House of the Dwarfs, on PP- 547-550.

1891

Varigny, C. V. C. de. Les mines d' Uxmal. U Illustration, Supple- ment au no. 2928, Paris, 8 avril, pp. 1-41, ill.

A modern story with the scene laid in Uxmal. Haebler gives the title, Las Ruinas de Uxmal, Madrid, 1879.

1892

Saville, Marshall H. Vandalism among the antiquities of Yucatan

AND MONOGRAPHS

114

UXMAL

and Central America. Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Rochester, vol. xli, p. 276; Science, New York, vol. xx, p. 365.

Calls attention to the painting of names on the buildings, and the breaking of sculptures with machetes. The writer spent several weeks at Uxmal during the winter of 1891 in the excavation of a mound at the rear of the hacienda building. Several tombs were discovered under the floors of the rooms.

1893

Paso y Troncoso Francisco del. Catalogo de la Seccion de Mexico, Exposicion Historico-Americana de Madrid. Madr d.

Tomo 11, pp. 40-51, contains a detailed description of a number of enlarged photo- graphs of the ruins of Uxmal, exhibited at ■ the Exposicion Historico-Americana held in Madrid in 1892 in honor of the four-hun- dredth centenary of the discovery of America.

1894

Brine, Lindsay. Travels amongst the American Indians, their ancient

IX

INDIAN NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

115

earthworks and temples, including a journey in Guatemala, Mexico and Yucatan, and a visit to the ruins of Patinamit, Pa enque and Uxmal. London.

Vice-Admiral Brine visited Uxmal in January, 1870. For his descriptions, see pp. xv-xvi, 330-359. 10 ill.

1895

Haebler, Karl. Die Maya-Litteratur und der Maya-Apparat zu Dresden.

Centralblatt fur Bibliothekswesen, Leipzig, XII Jahrgang, 12 Heft, pp. 537-575. For Uxmal, see p. 554.

Baker, Frank Collins. A naturalist in Mexico; being a visit to Cuba, northern Yucatan and Mexico. Chi- cago.

Holmes, William H. Archaeological studies among the ancient cities of Mex co. Part I, Monuments of

AND MONOGRAPHS

116

UXMAL

Yucatan. Field . Columbian Mu- seum, Anthropological Series, Publi- cation 8, vol. i, no. I, Chicago, Dec.

Uxmal, pp. 80-96, pi. v-ix, fig. 26. This is the most important and detailed descrip- tion of the main buildings of Uxmal. PL viii is a sketch map, and pi. ix a panorama of the group which gives a splendid conception of this wonderful ruined city. Professor Holmes was a member of the Armour Expedition, and was in Uxmal in January, 1895. The "inscribed stela or column" on pi. vii was discovered by Le Plongeon.

1896

Mercer, Henry C. Hill-caves of Yuca- tan. A search for evidence of man's antiquity in the caverns of Central America, being an account of the Corwith expedition of the Depart- ment of Archseolo'gy and Palae- ontology of the University of Penn- sylvania. Philadelphia.

In chap, x, Uxmal, pp. 85-90, fig. 32, Mercer records a visit to the ruins in 1895, but adds nothing to our knowledge of them.

IX

INDIAN NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

117

Foulke, William Dudley. Uxmal.

Monthly Illustrator, New York, no. 12, pp. 256-263, 11 ill.

A very readable account of the ruins, with original illustrations. Mr Foulke visited Uxmal for material to furnish local color for a novel, "Maya a Story of Yuca- tan," published by G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York and London, 1900.

1897

Mercer, Henry C. Cave hunting in Yucatan. Technology Quarterly,

Boston, December, vol. x, no. 4. Mention of Uxmal, pp. 364-365, 1 pi.

Neue Forschungen in den Ruinen von Uxmal (Yukatan). Globus, Bd. lxxi, H. 14, 3 April, pp. 220-224,

4 %.

A review of the part of Holmes' work relating to Uxmal, with two of Maler's photographs of the "Nunnery" group.

1903

Seler, Eduard. Ein Wintersemester in Mexico und Yucatan. Zeitschrift

AND MONOGRAPHS

118	UXMAL
	der Gesellschaft fur Erdkunde zu Ber- lin, Bd. 38, pp. 477-502. Seler publishes a photograph of the corner of one of the buildings of the "Nunnery" group, showing three masks with upturned, curled noses. 1905 Gordon, George Byron. The serpent motive in the ancient art of Central America and Mexico. Transactions of the Department of Archceology, University of Pennsylvania, Phila- delphia, vol. I, pt. III. Examples of the sculptured details of the Uxmal buildings are used in the develop- ment of the author's thesis. See pi. vii and xiii. 1906 Seler, Eduard. Studien in den Ruinen von Yucatan. Correspondenzblatt der deutschen Gesellschaft fiir Anthro- pologic, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte, Bd. xxxv, pp. 114-116, 1903. Enlarged in Compte Rendu de la X Verne session du Congres inter- national des Americanistes, Quebec,
IX	INDIAN NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

119

1906, tome 11, pp. 414-422. In- cluded in Gesammelte Abhandlungen zur Amerikanischen Sprach- und Alter thumskunde, Berlin, 1908, Dri ti- ter Band, pp. 710-717, 5 fig.

This is a study of the astronomical sym- bolism and glyphs of the temples of Uxmal.

1907

Molina Solis, Juan Francisco. El primer obispado de la nacion Meji- cana. Articulos publicados sobre esta materia y sobre otros puntos de nuestra historia. Articulos sobre la historia antigua de Yucatan. I, La Ruina de Uxmal, pp. 79-84. II, Ruina de Uxmal (continuacion), pp. 85-91. Merida de Yucatan.

Historical study of the rise and fall of Uxmal.

1908

Zayas Enriquez, Rafael. El estado de

Yucatan su pasado su presente su

porvenir. New York.

Photographs of Uxmal, p. 219; El Templo del Adivino, p. 222; Casa de las Monjas,

AND MONOGRAPHS

120

UXMAL

p. 229; Palacio del Gobernador, p. 231; El Caracol, p. 243; Casa de las Monjas.

IQOQ

Saville, Marshall H. The cruciform

structures of Mitla and vicinity.

Putnam Anniversary Volume, New

York.

Comparison of Uxmal and Mitla "mosaic" stone walls, p. 188, pi. xiii.

Morley, Sylvanus Griswold. A group of related structures at Uxmal, Mexico. American Journal of Ar- chaeology, Second ser., vol. xiv (1910), pp. 1-18, 2 pi., 2 fig.

Arnold, Channing, and Frost, Fred- eric J. Tabor. The American Egypt. A record of travel in Yuca- tan. New York.

Uxmal is described briefly on pp. 200-203. The authors justly state that "undoubtedly there is a large field for work here, which will amply reward archaeologists in those days when the 'dog in the manger' policy of the Mexican ' Jacks in office ' is a thing of the past, and intelligent landowners, such as Sefior Peom can assist students in every

IX

INDIAN NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

121

way instead of having their hands fettered by absurd Federal rules."

1910

RlCKARDS, CONSTANTINE GEORGE.

ruins of Mexico. London.

The

Vol. 1, pp. 21-23, 39 mounted photographs of Uxmal. This is the most extensive col- lection of photographs of the ruins of Uxmal that have been published.

IQIO (?)

Young, W. P., compiler. In Mayaland Yucatan. [n.p., n.d.] [A folder] 11 Issued by a representative group of Yucatecan planters and mer- chants," the Yucatan Tours Bureau.

It is copiously illustrated, and contains 18 beautiful illustrations of Uxmal, 9 of which were made by Teobert Maler. The copy in the collection of the compiler has been anno- tated by Maler.

1911

Case, Henry A. Views on and of Yucatan, besides notes upon parts of Campeche and the territory of Quintana Roo. Collected during a

AND MONOGRAPHS

122

UXMAL

long residence in the peninsula. Merida.

The description of Uxmal (pp. 123-154, 9 pi., 2 maps) is: (1) How to get there; (2) Criticism of Le Plongeon; (3) Description of buildings; (4) Legends.

Morley, Sylvanus Griswold. An- cient temples and cities of the New World. Uxmal, the city of the Xius. Bulletin of the Pan American Union, Washington, vol. 32, April, pp. 627-642, 11 ill.

1912

Maler, Teobert. Lista de las ilus- traciones para una proyectada pub- licacion de Teobert Maler, en el libro de recuerdos del Congreso de Americanistas.

A series of photographs made by Maler, published in Resena de la segunda sesion del XVII Congreso Internacional de American- istas efectuada en la Ciudad de Mexico durante el mes de Sepliembre de 1010, Mexico, 191 2. The second series of plates, nos. 1-8, are of Uxmal, of a building, and sculptures near

IX

INDIAN NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

123

tombs in the vicinity of the said building, never before published.

Huntington, Ellsworth. The penin- sula of Yucatan. Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, New York, vol. xliv, no. n.

On p. 819 is a view of the central design of the facade of the House of the Governor, wrongly captioned as "of a ruin at Kabah."

1913

Seler, Eduard. Ueber einige Altere Systeme in den Ruinen von Uxmal. Proceedings of the Eighteenth Inter- national Congress of Americanists, IQ12, London, pp. 220-235, 3 pi., 14 fig.

Spinden, Herbert Joseph. A study of Maya art, its subject matter and historical development. Memoirs of the Peabody Museum of American ArchcEology and Ethnology, Cam- bridge, vol. VI.

Contains numerous references to Uxmal.

AND MONOGRAPHS

124	UXMAL
	On pp. 5-8 is a translation of the description of Uxmal made in 1586 by Father Ponce (see pp. 70-78 herein). 1914 Huntington, Ellsworth. The mys- tery of the Yucatan ruins. Harper' s Magazine, New York, April. On p. 762 is a picture of one of the exterior arched rooms of the House of the Governor. 1915 Hewett, Edgar Lee. Ancient America at the Panama-California Exposi- tion. Art and Archceology, Washing- ton, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 64-102. On p. 92 reference is made to Uxmal, and on p. 93 is a reproduction of Vierra's pan- oramic painting of the site. On p. 101 is a photograph of Holmes' model of the House of the Governor, which is described on pp. 100-101. Seler, Eduard. Die Ruinen von Ux- mal. Zeitschrift fiLr Ethnologie, Ber- lin, Bd. xlvii, pp. 429-432.
.X	INDIAN NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

125

1916

Hewett, Edgar Lee. "America's archae- ological heritage. Art and Archce- ology, Washington, vol. iv, no. 6, December.

On pp. 263 and 265 are photographs of three Uxmal buildings.

1917

Seler, Eduard. Die Ruinen von Ux- mal. Abhandlungen der kbniglichen preuss. Akademie der Wissenschaft- en, Phil. -Hist. Klasse, no. 3, Berlin, 154 PP-

Morley, Sylvanus Griswold. The rise and fall of the Maya civilization in the light of the monuments and the native chronicles. Proceedings of the Nineteenth International Con- gress of Americanists, 1915, Wash- ington, pp. 140-149, 11 pi.

PL v, c, gives a painting of the Uxmal site made by Carlos Vierra. Some historical information concerning the ruins is given.

AND MONOGRAPHS

126

UXMAL

1918

Gann, Dr Thomas. The Maya Indians of southern Yucatan and northern British Honduras Bulletin 64, Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington.

On pp. 140-142 Dr Gann describes two human heads of stucco from Uxmal, the faces painted in several colors. These are now in the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation.

As Dr Gann did not illustrate these very important specimens of stucco-work, we give them in pis. v-vi. They are beauti- fully modeled and may be taken as portraits of individuals of high rank. The heads are life-size, the one shown in pi. v b^'rig 11 in. high, the face having a height of 8f in. This head is represented placed in a beak, only the lower part being left in our specimen. It is painted black, with brown patches placed on each side of the mouth. The lipsj are red, and the eyes are white with black pupils, and a line of brown encircles the entire eye on the lids. There is a twisted fillet on the top of the head, which comes down on each side of the face in front of and below the ears. The lower part has been broken off. There is a labret in the upper

IX

INDIAN NOTES

SAVILLE UXMAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

PL. V

PAINTED STUCCO HEAD FROM A RECENTLY DISCOVERED CHAMBER IN THE HOUSE OF THE GOVERNOR, UXMAL

SAVILLE UXMAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

PL. V!

PAINTED STUCCO HEAD FROM A RECENTLY DISCOVERED CHAMBER IN THE HOUSE OF THE GOVERNOR, UXMAL

SAVILLE — UXMAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

PL. VII

PAINTED STUCCO HEAD FROM A RECENTLY DISCOVERED CHAMBER IN THE HOUSE OF THE GOVERNOR, UXMAL

BIBLIOGRAPHY

127

lip, and a curious ornament on the nose. Broad, white bands are painted around the eyes. The large, circular ear-ornaments are painted red. On the forehead are four protruding pellets placed one above the other, a familiar feature on many heads of stone and clay found in the Mayan area. The small, grotesque head shown in pi. vn is painted black, with three red discs for eyes and mouth. Is it reported that this piece formed a kind of helmet for the portrait head just described. It is 6 in. high.

The other portrait head, illustrated in pi. vi, is 9 in. high, the face being the same size as that of the other. It is painted in the same colors, the only difference in treatment being in the lip-ornament, which consists of two pellets instead of one. This head has also the twisted fillet, but there is no evidence of ears in the specimens as broken from the main figure. Both heads are said to have been found in a sealed chamber, broken into in the House of the Governor, in the section of the arched connection of the northern recess in the outer wall on the western side. These two heads are the finest examples of stucco-work as yet found in Yucatan, where this material was sparingly used. They may be compared with the beautiful stucco-work at Palenque.

AND MONOGRAPHS

128	UXMAL
	191,9 Morley, Sylvanus Griswold. Arche- ology. Extracted from Year Book No. 17 of the Carnegie Institution of Washington (for 191 8), pp. 269-276. Gives an interpretation of several inscrip- tions at Uxmal, corresponding with the years 1 2 19 and 1277 a.d., the results of an expedi- tion to Yucatan, February to April, 191 8. Mena, Ramon. Cipactonal (de la "Casa del Adivino" en Uxmal Yucatan). Memorias y Revista de la Sociedad Cientifica Antonio Alzate, Mexico, tomo 38, nums. 5-8, pp. 271-275, pi. xxviii, fig. on p. 372. 1920 Morley, Sylvanus Griswold. The inscriptions at Copan. Publications of the Carnegie Institution of Washing- ton, Appendix 11.
IX	INDIAN NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

129

AUTHORS

Arnold, Channing, 1909

Baker, Frank Collins, 1895

Bancroft, Hubert Howe, 1881

Banks, David Saltonstall, 1889

Books of Chilam Balam, 1595

Bote, Juan, 1581

Brasseur de Bourbourg, Abbe, 1858, 1867

Brine, Lindsay, 1894

Buchon, J. A., 1825

Cabrera, Dr Paul Felix, 1822

Case, Henry A., 191 1

Catherwood, Frederick, 1844, 1854

Charnay, Desire, i860, 1863, 1884, 1885,

1887 Chavero, Alfredo, 1887 Chilam Balam, Books of, 1595 Ciudad Real, Fr Antonio, 1588 Claims to Land, 1687-1688 Cogolludo, Fr Diego Lopez de, 1688 Documents, 1556, 1557 Foulke, William Dudley, 1896 Friedrichstal, Emmanuel de, 1841 Frost, Frederic J. Tabor, 1909

AND MONOGRAPHS

130	UXMAL
	Gann, Thomas, 1918 Gordon, George Byron, 1905 Haebler, Karl, 1895 Heller, Carl, 1853 Hewett, Edgar L., 1915, 1916 Holmes, William H., 1895 Huntington, Ellsworth, 1912, 1914 Le Plongeon, Alice D., 1885 L. G., 1845 Maler, Teobert, 1912 Mani, Indian map of, 1557 (?) Mena, Ramon, 1919 Mercer, Henry C., 1896, 1897 M. F. P., 1845 Molina Solis, Juan Francisco, 1907 Morgan, Lewis Henry, 1880, 1881 Morley, Sylvanus Griswold, 1909, 191 1, 1917, 1919, 1920 Muhlenpfordt, Eduard, 1844 Norman, B. M., 1843 Ober, Frederick A., 1884, 1888 Paso y Troncoso, Francisco del, 1893 Ramirez, Jose Fernando, 1865 Rice, Allen Thorndike, 1880 Rickards, Constantine George, 1910 Salisbury, Stephen, 1877
IX	INDIAN NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY	131
Sanchez de Aguilar, Pedro, 1639 Saville, Marshall H., 1892, 1909 Seler, Eduard, 1903, 1906, 1913, 1915, 1917 Spinden, Herbert Joseph, 1913 Stephens, John L., 1841, 1843, 1848-50, 1853, 1854 Title Deeds, 1673 Un Curioso, 1845 Varigny, C. V. C. de, 1879, 1891 Viollet-le-Duc, M., 1866 Waldeck, Frederick, 1838 Warden, David B., 1825 Young, W. P., 1910 (?) Zavala, Lorenzo de, 1834 Zayas Enriquez, Rafael, 1908
AND MONOGRAPHS	2

INDIAN NOTES AND MONOGRAPHS

Edited by F. W. Hodge

VOL. IX IKC«1 No. 3

A SERIES OF PUBLICA- TIONS RELATING TO THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES

REPORTS ON THE MAYA INDIANS OF YUCATAN

BY

SANTIAGO MENDEZ,

ANTONIO GARCIA Y CUBAS,

PEDRO SANCHEZ DE AGUILAR,

AND

FRANCISCO HERNANDEZ

EDITED BY

MARSHALL H. SAVILLE

NEW YORK

MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION

1921

This series of Indian Notes and Monographs is devoted primarily to the publication of the results of studies by members of the staff of the Mus- eum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, and is uniform with His- panic Notes and Monographs, pub- lished by the Hispanic Society of America, with which organization this Museum is in cordial cooperation.

Only the first ten volumes of Indian Notes and Monographs are numbered. The unnumbered parts may readily be determined by consulting the List of Publications issued as one of the series.

INDIAN NOTES AND MONOGRAPHS

Edited by F. W. Hodge

VOL. IX SmT^M No. 3

A SERIES OF PUBLICA- TIONS RELATING TO THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES

REPORTS ON THE MAYA INDIANS OF YUCATAN

BY

SANTIAGO MENDEZ,

ANTONIO GARCl'A Y CUBAS,

PEDRO SANCHEZ DE AGUILAR,

AND FRANCISCO HERNANDEZ

EDITED BY

MARSHALL H. SAVILLE

NEW YORK

MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION

1921

REPORTS ON THE MAYA INDIANS OF YUCATAN

BY

SANTIAGO MENDEZ

ANTONIO GARCIA Y CUBAS,

PEDRO SANCHEZ DE AGUILAR

AND

FRANCISCO HERNANDEZ

EDITED BY

MARSHALL H. SAVILLE

CONTENTS

PAGE

Preface 139

The Maya Indians of Yucatan in 1861, by

Santiago Mendez 143

Customs 143

Women 177

Dress 190

Language 192

Stature, Physiognomy, Color 192

Savage Tribes 194

Note by Antonio Garcia y Cubas 196

Notes on the Superstitions of the In- dians of Yucatan (1639), by Pedro

Sanchez de Aguilar 202

Of the Religious Beliefs of the Indians of Yucatan in 1545. Report of Fran- cisco Hernandez 209

Glossary 216

Bibliography 221

Notes 223

137

INDIAN NOTES

IX

PREFACE

O LITTLE has been written in regard to the ethnology of the Maya Indians of Yucatan, and especially concerning their be- liefs, which persist to the present time, that we publish here a translation of an important and practically unknown ac- count of this subject. This report was printed in Mexico in 1870, but it is buried in a study by Antonio Garcia y Cubas entitled "Materiales para formar la Estadistica General de la Republica Mexicana," in Boletin de la Sociedad Mexicana de Geo graft a y Estadistica, segunda epoca, tomo 11, pp. 352-388. It is on pages 374-387, bears the date Merida, October 24, 1861, and was written by Santiago Mendez, who states that he was governor of Yucatan during the years 1841-42. In connection with a

INDIAN NOTES

IX

140	MAYA INDIANS
	study of this report, so far as it relates to the beliefs of the Maya, it will be profit- able to consult the paper by Dr Daniel G. Brinton on The Folk-lore of Yucatan, printed in the Folk-Lore Journal, London, vol. i, part viii, 13 pp., August, 1883. We have also had translated the notes on the superstitions of the Indians of Yucatan contained in the work of Pedro Sanchez de Aguilar, 1639, published by the Museo Nacional of Mexico in 1892 (pp. 83-84), and the report of Francisco Hernandez on the religious beliefs of the Yucatan Indians, which was sent to Bartolome de las Casas, evidently while Bishop of Yucatan in 1545, and is given by him in chapter cxxiii (pp. 328-330) of his Apologetica Historia de las Indias, a work which did not appear in print until 1875-76, the first complete edition of which was edited by M. Serrano y Sanz, and printed at Madrid in 1909. The information contained in the Mendez report is strikingly similar to that given by Bartolome Jose Granado Baeza on Los Indios de Yucatan, an
IX	INDIAN NOTES

PREFACE

141

account written in 1813 but not pub- lished until 1845, when it appeared in the Registro Yucateco, tomo I, pp. 165-178. This report of Baeza is one of the princi- pal sources used by Brinton in his study. The editor has incorporated a few brief notes, and has prepared a glossary of the Indian words and a short bibliography of the subject.

Marshall H. Saville.

AND MONOGRAPHS

THE MAYA INDIANS OF YUCATAN IN 1861

By Santiago Mendez

Report on the Customs, Labor, Language, Industry, Physiognomy, etc., of the Indians of Yucatan, made by the Agent of the Department of Public Works, who signs this report, in obedience to orders of February 6, 1861.

CUSTOMS

HE character of the Indians of Yucatan is such that, were they to be judged only by their customs and their habits,

we would have to qualify them as stupid and devoid of reason. It seems indiffer- ent to them to be in the shade or exposed to rain or to the scorching rays of the sun, even though they could avoid it.

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It does not matter to them whether they go dressed or naked. They never try to obtain commodities they see other races enjoy, even though the trouble or sacri- fice it would cost to get them might be but small. In order to rest or to chat with their companions they hardly ever sit down: they squat, it being quite in- different to them that they do it in a sun that scorches them when they might per- haps have shade two steps from where they are. Reward does not encourage them, nor does punishment admonish them; in the first place, they think they deserve more, — perhaps because they were always accustomed to be made use of, — and in the second case they con- sider punishment as a kind of fatality from which it is quite useless to try to deliver themselves: hence they do not reform. So long as their hunger is stilled, it is quite indifferent to them whether their meal is exquisite and varied, or whether it consists only of tortillas and chile, devouring their food in either case with astounding voracity. When they

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find themselves driven by utter necessity, they will work in order to remedy it, but they never do so with zeal or with the desire to improve their fortunes. They are so improvident that they may squander in one day the earnings of a week, in an exaggerated amount of dain- ties or in superstitious practices, and above all by intoxicating themselves, leaving their families without bread and clothing. Or, they remain idle until whatever they earned by the sweat of their brow is gone. They cultivate a cornfield and gather a good harvest from it, and even though they do not need to do so, they will sell the corn with con- siderable loss in order to squander the money in splendid repasts and supersti- tions, both of which always go together. This harvest might insure the subsistence of their family for a whole year, but their improvidence will reduce them within a few days to having to sell themselves for work (peonage).

The love of the parents for their child- ren, of the children for their parents, and

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between husband and wife, is barely lukewarm, and not at all passionate, if we are to judge from their absolute lack of signs of sympathy, pity, or condolence. They contemplate dry-eyed and rather indifferently the suffering of their nearest, and even their demise, without allowing this to change their demeanor or letting it interfere in the least with their general customs of life.

Although some of them can read and write, they use it very little, either be- cause they are very slow and clumsy in the exercise of both, on account, no doubt, of the lack of practice, and also because there is but little written in their own language.

Their children have usually no other education than that which they receive from the curates, priests, choirmasters, and teachers of the catechism, which edu- cation was formerly given to them at the church doors or in the mansions of the large ranches and farms, and they were compelled to assemble every morning from seven to eight to learn the cate-

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chism. At the present day, as it is not possible to force the parents to send their children to learn even this, there are but few who learn at all, especially among the boys. When the writer of this was governor of this state in the years 1841 and 1842, he succeeded in establishing primary schools in almost all the villages, and although averse to anything that looks or sounds like despotism, he author- ized, nevertheless, the mayors, justices of the peace, and chieftains (caciques1) to use it in order to force parents to send their children to the said schools. Unfor- tunately, in 1842 came the invasion by the forces of general Santa Anna, and in the effort to resist them, all the resources of the state were spent for many years in advance. Then followed our own sense- less revolutions and the almost general uprising of these same Indians against the other native races, consequently these schools passed out of existence without it having been possible until this day to reestablish them. Hence this remains an unsolved problem and it is difficult to

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	calculate the profit they might have brought (once the tenacious and per- sistent opposition of the Indians over- come), leaving them convinced of the advantages it might mean to further their knowledge even in the manual labor they perform. Generally they train their children from a very early age to help in their agricultural labor such as their fore- fathers did before the conquest, or else they teach them light manual labor, such as weaving little mats or matting in general, making small bags, baskets of all kinds and sizes, leather bands such as are used by the native porters, sacks, ham- mocks, ropes, to prepare henequen from agave fiber, to make straw hats, and so forth. In some villages they are taught to make common pottery, and in places near the coast they are shown howT to extract salt, to fish, and seamanship in general. It is very rare that they are taught other arts and crafts or trades, with the exception perhaps in cities or principal towns, where, especially when
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they have been reared and educated in the households of white people, they may become efficient in the art of quarrying stone, though quite primitively, or they qualify as masons, shoemakers, tailors, muleteers, drivers, and cowboys. They also provide the town with firewood, charcoal, and fodder.

With regard to their marriage customs, there is little else to say except that the daughter-in-law goes to live in the house of her father-in-law, and the son-in-law goes to live with his wife's parents, which is at present the most usual way, because an episcopal edict had to be issued pro- hibiting the first-mentioned to avoid the very frequent abuses committed on the bride by her father-in-law and brothers- in-law. At a very early age young men marry, without repugnance, women who are much older, widows, and even girls who have children born out of wedlock. To remonstrances made by those who wish to dissuade them in view of such conditions, they will reply, "Why should I care? This happened before my time!"

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	It is to be supposed that conjugal fidelity is not regarded very scrupulously by such couples. Their most common diseases depend largely on the seasons, and recur regularly. During summer and fall, when fresh food is abundant, the Indians are very immoderate in its use, conse- quently they suffer from diarrhea and vomiting. In spring and summer they have tabardilloj which is a burning fever, and dysentery, both of which are caused by too much exposure to the hot sun; and in winter obstinate constipation, colds, and affections of the throat and lungs. Their curative methods consist merely of abstinence and of bleeding, which they perform with a thorn or a fish-bone, and they cool their blood by drinking sour pozole or boiled lemonade, or else a decoction of a plant called xhantumbu. They never use emetics nor cathartics. Ordinarily they eat two meals a day, one on rising and another in the evening. If they go to work in the field, after hav- ing breakfasted on tortillas and atole, they
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take with them a large lump of pozole which they use as a refreshment at noon by diluting it in water. At sunset they leave work, and, returning home, eat the second meal, generally after having taken their bath. Their usual food consists of boiled vegetables seasoned with salt, chile, and sometimes with the juice of oranges (the sour orange is used for this) or of lemons. On Sundays, if they are able to do so, they buy beef or pork; these are the only days when they eat meat, except when they kill a wild bird or a creature of the woods while hunting. Such meat they cook by baking it in a special way in the earth, or else in pib. The very poor among them live all the year round on tortillas and chile, and a bowlful of pozole or atole. Even the wealthiest content themselves with only one dish. This does not interfere with their being big eaters, nor devouring all they can get when it does not cost them anything.

Their usual beverage is called pitarrilla, consisting of the bark of a plant called

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	balche which they put in soak in fresh water and honey and let it ferment. After fermentation it becomes strong enough to be intoxicating. They are also very fond of liquor, and there are very few among them who do not become intoxi- cated occasionally, at least on Sundays. Experience, and to a certain extent tradition, are their only guides for telling the different seasons of the year; they have not the slightest remembrance of their ancient calendar system. They are accustomed to hear clocks strike where such exist, but otherwise, simply from the course of the sun, moon, and stars, they are able to regulate the hours of the day and night, more or less. They also know when an eclipse of the moon is approaching, attributing this phe- nomenon to an intention of the sun to destroy his satellite, and they therefore are prepared to make a fearful racket with sticks, mitotes, whistles or horns (fotutos2), shotguns, and other instruments during the eclipse, believing that by so doing they can avoid the catastrophe.
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They sleep from early evening until four oclock in the morning. Their work- ing hours, if it is at all necessary for them to go to work, last from sunrise to sunset. If they are paid, they walk or travel at all hours, even with a load.

There are a few among them who are trustworthy and faithful in their con- tracts, and know how to keep their word and promises; but there is a greater number who absolutely lack all of these virtues, with the exception, perhaps, of the solemn promises they make to their saints, in the fulfilment of which they are scrupulously punctual.

They lie easily and very frequently, although they are aware that lies are prohibited. Generally they evade, when- ever possible, a truthful answer which is to the point and fully satisfies the question.

Their principal vices are lasciviousness among both sexes, and drunkenness among the men. To do them justice though, we might as well acknowledge that it is more than probable that if other races and tribes had to live as they do,

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almost naked, in the complete liberty and isolation of country places, all mem- bers of one family, males and females, grownups and minors, the married and the single ones sleeping together in those little huts without any, or at best, very scant, knowledge of religion, of modesty and honor, without any fear of the conse- quences of unchastity to the women, without any intellectual enjoyment, re- duced to the merest essentials — to satisfy hunger, thirst, sleep, and the intercourse of the two sexes, might they not be guilty of worse crimes?

They are generally accused of being inclined to theft, but as a rule they steal small things of little value, and they are

not known to recur to violence or murder

to satisfy this tendency.

The wealthy are free money-lenders to

members of their own tribe and even to

those of a different stock, so long as they

are satisfied they are not going to be

cheated.

As in almost all of the most populated

part of the Yucatecan peninsula, it is

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impossible to use the plow for tilling the fields; labor is reduced to clearing the tropical growth by burning it in the height of summer and sowing corn or vegetables when the rains commence, to fencing in the fields and weeding them, etc. In order to be able to cultivate at one time as much as possible of their extensive lands, the wealthy Indians pay their day-laborers and volunteers ex- ceedingly well, either in money or in its equivalent in provisions at a price below its actual market value, especially in times of scarcity. They are guided in this by the rule, "This is sweat of my brethren and it is not right that they should pay it too dearly." If those workers are servants of some large ranch and live on the place, they are called Luneros* because they give their master their day's work on Mondays in exchange for the land he gives them to cultivate for themselves . and for the water he allows them for irrigation of their fields. If they do not, for one reason or another, go to work on that day, he receives one

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•	real in silver instead. The customary amount of work they really are com- pelled to do for their master per year is twenty mecates of clearing of untilled land and another twenty of already previously tilled fields. Had the owner to pay for hired labor, this would amount to 12 pesos, 4 reals. In addition to this they have to give him two hours on Saturdays for what they call fagina,* which means work around the house of any kind their patron should order them to do. On some of the ranches the obligatory field-work is reduced to half, but in this case they have to pay their real for Mondays, and always have to do the Saturday's fagina. Any other service or work they may be called on to do is paid or put to their account. By milpa roza,b the first clearing of a field by felling trees, cutting and burning under- growth, etc., is meant; while the milpa cana^ is the clearing of fields that have already been tilled the year before, where the cornstalks are to be split and burnt in order to plant again.
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Those who are employed as cowboys on stock-farms receive a fixed wage, and are not subject to the Monday service nor to the usual field-work. They have to look after the cattle and horses, and they have charge of the draw-wells, the tanks, and drinking pools. They have to attend to irrigation, weeding, and sowing of the truck gardens and orchards, and in general to do all work performed on such ranches either for their conservation and improvement or else in personal service to the owners or for the advantage of its products. It is also their duty to rasp a certain amount of henequen fiber from the agave each day. Their wage is from eight to twelve reals per month and five altitudes7 of corn per week. Yet neither this latter nor the salary are paid to him as his earnings, but credited to his account against what he draws in provisions or money, so that he actually is always indebted. This, however, is the aim of the owners, in order to hold the man quite secure, even though they know very well that, should the man die

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in their service, they would lose that amount. They see to it, however, that he never owes too much. This really constitutes a kind of slavery (peonage) which the men try to avenge by serving as poorly as they can, even to such masters as aim to make their lot easy and agreeable by frequent gifts or bonuses.

As a rule the Yucatecan Indians are regarded as being meek, humble, and not easily stirred to ire and cruelty, basing such an opinion on the fact that the most customary punishment among them was a whipping applied with moderation. This kind of punishment did not offend them, if they were informed of the reason why it was meted out to them, nor did they consider it degrading. This char- acteristic is still noticeable among those who have remained submissive and attached to the white people. It is quite different with those among them who have had to suffer the cruel, atro- cious, and protracted martyrdom in- flicted by the rebels. They are merciless

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to those who have fallen and still fall into their power, not only those of other tribes, but even of their own, in case they refuse to follow their tracks. They have no pity on either age or sex.

The chieftains (cagiques) of today, as well as those who were in office in the past, and the most prominent or wealthy Indians, live just as simply as the rest, without the slightest variation. They all are respected by their subordinates, whom they do not oppress to their own ad- vantage, nor do they demand any services from them without compensa- tion.

The Indians are generally gay, light- hearted, gossipy, and fond of tricks, in which they can display strength, agility, and adroitness. They are also very fond of music and song, although not very gifted or talented in the execution of the former especially. At their feasts and dances, which usually are rather tumul- tuous and poorly organized, they still use some of the old songs in their own language, to the accompaniment of a

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	little raucous flute, the carapace of a turtle (hicotea), upon which they beat the time with a hart's horn, and of the mitote or taukul. The mitote* is a solid piece of wood of cylindrical shape, one yard long and a third of a yard or a little more in diameter, open at one side almost from one end to the other. This opening is made for the purpose of hollowing out the piece of wood until it is reduced to one inch or a little more in thickness. On the opposite side of the mouth, or opening, they fasten two oblong wings, which, starting at both ends, meet in the center and are separated from one an- other by a serrated edge. In order to play this instrument, they place it, mouth downward, on the ground, so that the wings remain on the topmost side, and they hit them with two short sticks whose points are covered with an elastic resin that makes them jump, so as not to deaden or confound the sound, which is of such resonance and force that it may be heard at a distance of two leagues.
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Notwithstanding the fact that they regard death almost with indifference, they are timid and cowardly. They never attack the enemy unless they are far superior in number. Still, they are very astute or cunning to plan ambushes and to take advantage of every occasion to surprise their foes, and then fight with great advantage, always accompanying the fighting with frightful shouting. They are generally good marksmen, and they handle the machete9 with admirable skill. Whenever they see that they can- not resist the onslaught, they disperse in the woods, but almost instantly come together again at a previously designated meeting-place. They are very fleet of foot and good racers, and of an almost incredible endurance for walking long distances, even with a load of six to eight arrobas [150 to 200 pounds]10 on their backs. They also can stand a long time without food or drink.

They do not excel in writing or in learning to write, although not a few have studied the same length of time and

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	the same subjects as white men, but they are generally clownish and slow of under- standing. It happens very often that after they have been given a clear and oft-repeated order, they will manage to execute it the wrong way, and their memory is so short that, although they attend catechism daily from the age of six or seven until they are twelve or four- teen years of age, there are very many among them who have never been able either to learn it or to commit it to memory. Those, however, who do not evade those lessons and who furthermore attend the preaching of the gospel in their own language, have obtained Cath- olic ideas about eternity, the last judg- ment, the glory of God, purgatory, and hell. As the climate of the peninsula is so hot that it exhausts our physical strength and energy, as well as reduces the needs of man who can live almost nude and in the open air and feed himself sparingly, we cannot expect that the Indian should be particularly inclined to work. We
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had the same experience among the other native races, although perhaps their social standard may impose greater necessities. A hut of six or seven yards in length by three or four in width, he builds himself; its walls consist of rows of sticks (which sometimes are covered with a coat of clay) and thatched with palm-leaves or grass, with a door fre- quently made of reeds twined together. Two or three roughly-woven hammocks of henequen, a machete, perchance a hoe, perhaps a hatchet, and, very rarely, a poor shotgun, are all his furniture. A metate to grind his corn, an earthen pot to boil it, another pot to cook the vege- tables and the atole, a comal or flat earthenware plate to cook the corn- cakes or tortillas, a pitcher for water, one or two jicaras of guero,11 an equal number of gourds cut in halves to make drinking vessels and for other purposes, are the eating utensils. A roughly-made, circular stool of half a yard in diameter and about as much in height, and which is used for shaping the tortillas as well

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	as for a table at which they eat their meals, etc. Fifteen to twenty yards of cotton cloth for the man's clothes, for the wife's, and for the children's, which costs a real per yard, supposing the woman does nut spin and weave this herself; two or three coarse needles, a reel of cotton thread, a straw hat, sandals, a handkerchief and a cotton belt; a large straw basket or hamper, a mccapal, and a sack of henequen, complete the list. A trough in which to wash clothes and to bathe themselves; a few pounds of corn which he sows himself, as well as chile, beans, calabazas,12 camotc [sweet potatoes], and jicama,u a bunch of bananas, the leaf of which is used to shape the tortillas, and perhaps a sour orange. His wood he himself cuts in the forest for cooking his meals and also for the lire which he keeps all night in the center of the hut; and lastly a little salt. This is the entire inventory of the necessaries of life an Indian family of Yucatan needs, and which suffices even to the wealthy ones in the larger towns and principal
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cities. A great many of them live even without some of the things enumerated. They substitute for corn and vegetables (in case they cannot have them either for not having sown or for having lost the harvest), fruits, roots, and indigenous plants which grow wild all over their country, and which are edible and nour- ishing. Shall we still ask why the Yuca- tecan Indian is so indolent, when he has such few and such modest necessities, all of which are so easy to obtain even in the midst of the forests and at a great dis- tance from any other human habitation? He instinctively hates the superiority of the white race, and even of the mesti- zos, to whom institutions both of long ago and of the present day, customs, greater civilization, and above all the allotment of land, give so many ad- vantages. His almost irresistible inclina- tion carries him into isolation, almost exile, in order to escape from the torment of seeing them and from social duties. He retires where the land is free, where he can till his field wherever he pleases.

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This accounts for the often very small settlements of perhaps only a couple of families in the thickets of the forests, provided they find a spring or at least a watering place, even though they might have to travel a considerable distance to provide themselves. But even those who live in larger settlements, in towns of white people, will invariably select the most retired spots in streets in the out- skirts (far away from the center of the town) where to build their huts.

This isolation in the big forests is the principal cause of his becoming more and more brutish, and it grows with the facility which those same isolated places afford him to satisfy the one and only desire he has acquired — drunkenness. It is there he finds balche and wild honey to brew his pitarrilla. And there are ever some of his own race or mestizos who bring him liquor in exchange for the little corn he may have stored. He gives this up with an improvidence which seems innate, though perhaps we might attri- bute it to ignorance.

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The Indian never sees the crucifix or a simple cross or the image of some saint displayed anywhere, without going to kneel before it in reverent devotion, nor does he ever meet a priest without raising his hat or hurrying to his side to kiss his hand. He spends half of his earnings in devotional offerings which in the end degenerate into perfect orgies of religious fervor. And yet, in spite of all that, he does not feel the slightest scruple to take as concubines his sisters or even his own daughters.

He does not profess half as much love and devotion to God as he shows toward the images of Saint Anthony of Padua or to the crucifix, both of which are the only ornaments he has in his little hut. He enters a church without bowing to the Holy Sacrament on the main altar, but he goes and kneels before the cross or before Saint Anthony or Saint Francis of Paula, or to any other image to which miracles are ascribed, no matter how poorly executed or how defective such an image might be. On rising from his

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prostrate position, he bends over to kiss the altar, to touch its board with his cheeks or forehead, then touches the image itself, if such is possible, at least with a twig of some aromatic herb or a flower which he carries home as a relic, paying it the utmost reverence. In addi- tion to this he offers a certain amount of money for candles which he lights before the image of his saint at certain times; he pays for a determinate number of 11 Salve Reginas" to be sung either in the church or during street processions for his sake, and he offers prayers for the souls of departed relatives.

He believes that the souls of the de- parted return to earth, and he therefore marks with chalk the road from the cemetery to their former abode, that they may not get lost.

He has just as deep-rooted a belief in witches and elves, and he is in very great fear of witchcraft. It is impossible toerad- icate from his mind the idea that there are men who especially dedicate them- selves to inflict this dreadful art on others.

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He fears and respects at the same time an ideal being whom he calls Baldm and who, so he says, is the lord of the fields. They all are therefore convinced that these fields cannot be tilled without danger even to their lives if they do not offer him sacrifices before beginning work, such as horchata de maiz (orgeat), which they call sacd\ a stew made of corn and turkey, which they call kool ; the tortilla with beans, called bulihuah; pitarrilla, and fumes of copal which they use in- stead of incense. It may safely be stated, therefore, that they adore him like God, but they are always careful that the white people do not see or notice this sacrificial offering for fear of being con- sidered as idolators. t

Alux they call certain apparitions which they believe to exist in the ancient ruins and on the hills, and they say that as soon as it grows dark in the evening these apparitions or ghosts commence to walk around the houses, throwing stones, whistling to the dogs and lashing them when they get near them, which leaves the

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poor beasts with a cough that kills them. They pietend that these ghosts can run with great speed, as well backward as forward; that they do not terrify those who look at them. They are wont to enter into the houses to annoy and tease people who are abed in their hammocks, not letting them sleep. They assure us that on ranches where sugar-cane is grown, and just as soon as the grinding machine for the cane is set up, they will go and turn it or they will drive on the horse attached to it, to make it trot around. They say these apparitions are of the size of a little Indian boy of four or five, and that they appear naked, with only a little hat on their heads. This belief is the cause of incalculable loss to antiquarians on account of the almost daily destruction of articles found in the ruins. The Indians will destroy without pity or regard, notwithstanding they may be offered a good price for them, all the images in clay and other objects found on the hills or in subterranean passages, because they are convinced

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that these objects are the ones that be- come alive at night and come out to walk around. They attribute to the alux, or to their influence, all the diseases they have, as they consider their touch malig- nant. They say that if these apparitions find anyone asleep they will pass their hands over his face so lightly that the sleeper does not even feel it, but this causes him a fever which incapacitates him for a long time.

They also believe in the existence of the Xtabay, the Huahuapach, and the Xbolontharoch bokolhahoch. The first of these apparitions or ghosts may be seen, according to them, in the most isolated spots of a village or settlement in the shape of a woman dressed as a mestizo, combing her beautiful hair with the fruit of a plant they call xache xtabay. She runs away as soon as anyone approaches. She quickens or retards her flight, either disappearing or allowing the one who pursues her to reach her side. This latter is the case if the one who pursues her is some amorous fellow who thinks

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her to be a beautiful maiden. But as soon as he reaches and embraces her, he finds that he holds in his arms a bundle filled with thorns, with legs as thin as those of a turkey, and this gives him such a terrible shock that he has fainting spells and high delirious fevers. The Iluahuapach is a giant who may be seen at midnight in certain streets, and he is so tall that an ordinary man barely reaches to his knees. He amuses himself by blocking the traffic, opening his limbs and placing one foot on either side of the street. Should anyone inadvertently try to pass between his feet, he quickly brings his legs together and so closely presses the throat of the poor victim that he finally chokes him. The two other specters or ghosts confine themselves to repeating during the night the noises that have been prevalent in the daytime, and especially the noise made by the spindle-wheel the women use. The other one makes a subterranean noise wrhich sounds like the chocolate-churner, but both these noises terrorize those who hear them.

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There is no end of superstitions among the general mass of the Indians, and the most customary form of fortune-telling is performed by means of a piece of a certain crystal which they call zaztun, which means a clear and transparent stone, and this enables them to see hidden things and also to divine the cause of maladies. Those who arrogate to them- selves the title of a diviner are freely consulted, and they receive presents and live a very easy and carefree life. By means of their tricks and great cunning they make the simple and ignorant Indians believe, when they are ill and go to consult them, that through the zaztun they (the sorcerers) have discovered that some ill-intentioned enemy has bewitched them, and that in order to discover the malicious spell, they will have to wake for three nights with an abundant pro- vision of pitarrilla, and aguardiente, food, and lighted candles. Of course, during these three nights they give themselves up to high living and immoderate drink- ing. While the others, their patients if

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	we may so call them, are sleeping, or off their guard, they bury within the house or in its immediate vicinity a little wax figure pierced by a thorn through that part of the body where the complaint of their patient lies. When everybody is awake after the last night of vigil, they start certain ceremonies with the zaztun, and finally they go to the spot where they had buried the figure and take it out within sight of everyone, making them believe that that was the witchery. Then they start their treatment of the patient with the first and any herbs they can find, and if by mere chance these cure the ailment, they have naturally made for themselves a great reputation among the ignorant. They also perform a "healing" in- cantation by offering certain prayers in which they mention the diseases and the different winds to the influence of which they attribute them. They will repeat the Lord's prayer over their patient, the Ave Maria, and the Creed, and sometimes also the prayer to Saint Anthony which
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is included in the Mexican prayer-book. On other occasions they will resort to the kex, which means exchange, and consists in hanging around the house of their patient certain food and drink for the Yuncimil, or Lord of Death, and they be- lieve that by so doing they are able to save, for the time being, the life of the patient by barter.

To prevent bees from abandoning the hives and to make them bring home ample honey, and also that their owners may be free from sickness, they will hang in the beehives chocolate cups with sacd or horchata of corn.

They also perform the misa milpera (mass on the cornfield), which they call tick, which means offering or sacrifice, and which is celebrated in the following manner: On a barbecue or roast made with little sticks of equal length they place a turkey, and the one who officiates as priest opens the bird's beak and pours pitarrilla down its throat. Then they kill it, and the assistants carry it off to season it. In the meantime they

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have been cooking in the earth some large loaves of corn-bread which they call canlahuntaz, which is made of fourteen tortillas or broken bread filled with beans. When all is well flavored and cooked, they place it on the barbecue with several cups rilled with pitarrilla. Now again the one acting the part of priest begins to incense it with copal, in- voking the Holy Trinity; he repeats the Creed, and, taking some pitarrilla with a holy-water sprinkler, he flings it to the four winds, invoking the four Pahahtuves, lords or custodians of rain. He then returns to the table, and, raising one of the jicaras aloft while those surrounding him kneel, he places the jicara to each one's mouth for a sip. The feast then proceeds and terminates by general eat- ing and drinking, most of all by the one who "officiated," who furthermore takes home with him a goodly supply. They say that the red Pahahtun, who is seated in the east, is Saint Dominick (Santo Domingo) ; the white one in the north is Saint Gabriel; the black one in the west

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is Saint James; the yellow Pahahtun, said to be female and called by them Xanleox, is seated in the south, and is Mary Magdalen.

They very readily take their newborn babies to the baptismal font, and they never refuse to bury their dead in the cemetery.

WOMEN

It is quite astounding how in this climate woman in general passes very rapidly from childhood into womanhood, but this development is still more re- markable in the case of the native Indian woman, prompted no doubt by their mode of life and native customs. It is quite usual to see a little Indian girl of three trot daily to the woods with her parents to help cultivate the fields; very often her excursions extend to neighbor- ing villages, and she seems to make those trips of four and even six leagues with the greatest ease, on foot; and after she has reached five or six years, she even carries her little bundle tied on her back.

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They also journey day after day out into the fields in search of firewood, small sticks perhaps not thicker than an inch or a little more, which they call moloch. They search for the wood themselves; they cut it and tie it with two reed or rattan rings, so that they can carry it on their backs. Then they go for water in the morning and again in the evening, having to draw it from wells forty and sixty yards deep, in buckets made of tree-bark. After they have reached the age of eleven or twelve years, they always present themselves for this particular errand, as clean as possible. They take great care to be well-washed and their hair carefully combed, almost as if they were going for a pleasure walk or to some meeting. This is particularly the case on the ranches and farms, and in almost all the villages where they have to provide themselves with water from the com- munal wells.

Between the ages of six and eleven years the little Indian maiden attends, either at the church door or, on big

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haciendas, in the main building, to the teaching of our Christian religion. She goes there with bare head and with her hair hanging loose over her shoulders.

All a mother teaches her daughters is how to cook, grind the corn, and shape the tortillas; to make atole and pozole; to wash clothes, — and this very poorly, — at all events. Or rather the girls learn all those things by themselves through mere observation and by helping their mothers in their daily tasks. Some mothers, however, will teach them to spin and weave their rough cotton cloth, to sew their garments, and sometimes even to embroider in a very primitive way.

They are usually accompanied by a criada, or housemaid, who is a kind of guardian angel and remains by their side wherever they go. When they meet the man they love, they bow their heads and look down; when speaking of their love, with the big toe of one foot they will draw lines on the ground.

While they are within their homes they

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wear only a skirt or petticoat of white cotton "cloth, which covers them from the waist down to their knees, and in this way they will also present themselves to visitors, unless it is someone absolutely unknown to them, in which case they cross their arms over their breasts to hide them from the stranger. If one meets them in the fields or lies in wait for their, over the walls of unmor ared stones, they hide immediately, apparently to run away from the presence of a way- farer, notwithstanding they are all ex- ceedingly curious, and the love of gossip is one of their main characteristics. They are tender-hearted and