those of Palenque, others, of Copan, while some are identical with those of Mexico. Some of the monuments consist of pyramids, faced with hewn stones, with stairs leading to the summit, where there was, probably, an altar, on which the priests offered their human victims. It is a curious circumstance, that several, if not all these pyramids, are hollow, being traversed by arched galleries, forming a subterranean labyrinth. The mode in which Mr. Stephens made this discovery is as creditable to his active curiosity, as illustrative of the sloth and ignorance of the people. He was told of a marvellous cave, called La Cueva de Mexicana. On entering the cavity, instead of a natural grotto, he found an arched gallery leading into the hill, and branching off in different directions. After exploring these galleries, a strange incident led to a discovery of their true nature. On a second visit he found in the walls of one of the passages a hole, which admitted the light, and on looking through it he saw some plump and dusky legs, which clearly did not belong to los Antiguos, which he easily recognised as those of this worthy attendants. It was now found that the imagined hillside was but an artificial mound, pos. sessing the same pyramidal character as the other artificial hills of the country. We have already hinted that Mr. Stephens's reading upon American antiquities is not very extensive, and here we have an evidence of the fact, as he is not aware of the general importance of his own discovery. Humboldt has already shown that galleries are found in the pyramid of Cholula, the greatest of known pyramids; and we have already stated, on the authority of Clavigero and Hervas, that similar galleries, ornamented with carved work, have been found to the north of Mexico, in latitude 27 deg.

Besides these pyramids, sometimes merely immense mounds, faced with stone, at other times, constructed entirely of hewn stone, the country abounds in palaces and buildings of various kinds. Some of these edifices are circular, calling to mind the Picts' houses of Glenelg, in the north of Scotland. What is also very remarkable, we find in most of these edifices that the Indian architects had made a very near approach to the discovery of

the arch, although in no instance, as far as we remember, is there any thing like a key-stone. The plan which the Indians followed was sufficiently simple: the stones on both sides of a doorway, for example, were made to overlap each other like an inverted staircase till they met at the top, thus forming a sort of angular roof. This very simple invention does not prove any high degree of advancement in the arts any more than the domeshaped roofs constructed upon the same principle. On the contrary, the same simple device is well known even to the Esquimaux, whose winter houses are constructed of blocks of ice, forming a circular wall, and when the building has acquired sufficient elevation, the blocks are made to overlap until they meet in the centre of the roof. Such a species of architecture is more illustrative of a certain kind of civilization, than an evidence of the intercourse and filiation of remote tribes; and in this respect, a curious, but unprofitable analogy may be pointed out between the ancient stone-roofed churches of Ireland, and the similar temples of Yucatan, while the subterranean vaults and domes of that country may be compared to the similar underground gallery near Drogheda.

There are other monuments, which, if less calculated to arrest attention, are probably more interesting to the philosophic observer. The pyramids, sculptured walls, and stucco ornaments, prove the existence of a dense population, which had made some progress in the useful arts, and whose energies were guided by an influential priesthood; but there are other remains which prove an attention and foresight directed to useful purposes. The remains of ancient roads, which traversed the country, and the construction of reservoirs for water, prove the existence of a well-regulated police and society, possessed of a stable organization. The aguadas, or reservoirs, form a very peculiar feature in the monuments of the Maya race, (Indians of Yucatan,) as they do not occur in any other part of America, and originated from what may be called a geological necessity, depending on the physical structure of the country. The peninsula of Yucatan is, upon the whole, a level country, with

few mountains, and consequently, few rivers or lakes. The prevailing rock appears to be limestone, broken up into fissures, and abounding in caverns, where the rain, as it falls, is drained off in subterranean channels, as is the ease in Greece, and in the limestone districts of the west of Ireland.* The once teeming population of Yucatan depended for a supply of water partly on natural, and partly on artificial means the former derived from the accumulation of water in the natural grottoes; and the latter, by collecting the rain in their artificial pools, or aguadas.

That natural wells and aguadas formed an important consideration with the ancient Mayas is obvious, even from the names of their ruined towns; the termination chen, which so often occurs, signifying a well, or reservoir; and thus we have Becanchen, the running well, Bolonchen, the nine wells; Chichen, the well's mouth, &c. The following quotation from Mr. Stephens will give an idea of the nature of these aguadas, as well as of the Turkish indolence and barbarism of the Spaniards, who have long neglected this valuable resource in so dry a country. In 1835, Senhor Trego, an intelligent man, formed the opinion that he could obtain a supply of water by clearing out one of these neglected aguadas.

"He believed it had been used by the ancients as a reservoir, and took advantage of the dry season to make an examination, which satisfied him that his supposition was correct. For many years it had been abandoned, and it was then covered three or four feet deep with mud. At first he was afraid to undertake with much vigour the work of clearing it out, for the prejudices of the people were against it, and they feared, that by disturbing the aguada, the scanty supply then furnished might be cut off. In 1836 he procured a permission from the government, by great exertions secured the co-operation of all the Ranchos and Haciendas for leagues around, and at length, the enlisting them all fairly in the task at one time, he had at work fifteen hundred Indians, and eighty superintendents. On clearing

out the mud, he found an artificial bot

tom of large flat stones. These were laid upon each other, and the interstices were filled in with clay of a red and brown colour, of a different character from any in the neighbourhood. The stones were many layers deep, and he did not go down to the bottom, lest by some accident the foundation should be injured.

"Near the centre he discovered four ancient wells. These were five feet in diameter, faced with smooth stone, not covered with cement, eight yards deep, and at the time of the discovery, were also filled with mud. Besides these, he found along the margin four hundred casimbas, or pits, being holes into which the water filtered, and which, with the wells, were intended to furnish a supply when the aguada was dry.

The whole bottom of the aguada, the wells and pits were cleaned out. Senhor Trego portioned off the pits among the families, to be preserved and kept in order by them, and the dry basin was then given up to the floods of the rainy season. It so happened that the next year was one of unusual scarcity, and the whole country around was perfectly destitute of water. That year Senhor Trego said more than a thousand horses and mules came to this aguada, some even from the rancho of Santa Rosa, eighteen miles distant, with barrels on their backs, and carried away water. Families established themselves along the banks; small shops for the sale of necessaries were opened; and the butcher had his shambles with meat. The aguada supplied them all, and when this failed, the wells and pits held out abundantly till the rainy season came on, and enabled them to return to their several homes."-Vol. ii. p. 211-13.

Another kind of remains are the traces of ancient roads, which, however, are rarely seen, on account of the forests with which the country is now overgrown.

"A short distance beyond," says Mr. Stephens, "is one of the most interesting monuments of antiquity in Yucatan. It is a broken platform, or roadway of stone, about eight feet wide, and eight or ten inches high, crossing the road, and running off into the wood on both sides. I have before referred to it, as called by Indians Sackbey, which means, in the Maya language, a

The

paved way of pure white stone. Indians say it traversed the country from Kabah to Uxmal, and that on it couriers travelled, bearing letters to and from the lords of those cities, written on leaves, or on the bark of trees. It is the only instance in which we have found among the Indians any thing like a tradition, and the universality of this legend was illustrated by the circumstances attending our arrival. While

we were standing upon the road, an old Indian came up from the other direction, bending under a load, who, on erossing it, stopped, and, striking his stick against the stones, uttered the words Sackbey Kabah Uxmal."—Vol. ii. p. 122.

In confirmation of this tradition, Torquemada, one of the older American historians, informs us that the island of Cozumel was the chief seat of idolatry to the people of Yucatan, and visited by pilgrims from all quarters. This island, so interesting even in the history of the Spanish conquests, was the Rome or Benares of the country. The same authority informs us, that to facilitate these pilgrimages the whole peninsula was intersected by paved roads leading towards the island of Cozumel. It is a remarkable fact that before the use of posts, or the existence of convenient roads, the people of America, in Peru, Mexico, and Yucatan, had establishments of that kind equal to what we find in the Roman empire in the days of the Antonines, or to what Spain possesses at the present day. In all these relicts of Indian civilization, and in all these social institutions, we are struck with a remarkable feature which prevails throughout America. We perceive every where a system and arrangement even in the minutest things in the police of their cities; the different trades and occupations were classified with the most rigorous accuracy: even the food of the children was proportioned to their age, with no regard to constitution or health; the offences of the children were estimated by the physical act, and a defined amount of chastisement administered with undiscriminating uniformity. It was the same in their public works; they were the aggregate result of the combined action of so many separate portions, so to speak, of physical force; the community was every thing, its individual

This system

was

parts nothing. carried to its maximum by the Incas, and subsequently adopted by the Jesuits. It was more mitigated in Mexico, still more, perhaps, in Yucatan, and scarcely existed among the bold Arancans of Chili. In the wild hunting tribes the system is inverted, and the individual is every thing, and the community of little power or influence.

There are two curious circumstances first brought to notice by Mr. Stephens one of them we confess sufficiently mysterious, we mean the impression of mano colorado, or red hand, which is found on many of the buildings of Yucatan. That this hand was impressed by the builders of these edifices admits of no doubt, as Mr. Stephens observed them on the mortar after a portion of the wall had been broken open.

"Over the cavity left in the mortar by the removal of the stone, were two conspicuous marks which afterwards stared us in the face in all the ruined buildings of the country. They have the prints of a red hand with the thumb and fingers extended, not drawn or painted, but stamped by the living hand, the pressure of the palm upon the stone. He who made it stood before it alive as we did, and pressed his hand, moistened with red paint, hard against the stone. The seams and creases of the palm were clear and distinct in the impression. There was something life-like about it that waked exciting thoughts, and almost presented the image of the departed inhabitant hovering about the building. There was one striking feature about these hands they were exceedingly small. Either of our own spread over and completely hid them; and this was interesting from the fact that we had ourselves remarked and heard remarked by others, the smallness of the hands and feet as a striking feature in the physical conformation of the Indians of the present day."-Vol, i. p. 177.

In some cases, however, the impressions are larger than the usual size of the Indian hand, for when speaking of another ruin Mr. Stephens informs us that

"The prints were larger than any he had seen. In several places I measured them with my own, opening the fingers to correspond with those on the wall. The Indians said it was the hand of the master of the building."-Vol. ii. p. 46.

It is impossible to speculate on so obscure a topic, except in so far as to state that as the hand marks, with one exception, are small like those of the Indians, it amounts to a physical demonstration that neither the Jews, Phoenicians, nor the followers of Prince Madoc, were the builders of these palaces or temples, as the hands of the people of Europe and Western Asia are larger than those of the Indians. If Mr. Stephens be cor rectly informed, the print of the red hand is still known among the wild Indians of North America. Mr. Catlan possesses a Mandan tent on which are two prints of the red hand. He was also informed that it is constantly to be seen on the skins of the wild animals purchased by the traders on the Rocky Mountains.

There is another analogy, however, which has escaped Mr. Stephens, and which has a more important bearing on the red hand. Quetzalcoatl, the priest and lawgiver of the Toltecs, whose name signifies feathered serpent, after leaving his people, travelled, as the tradition goes, to the east, to his native land, and toward Yucatan. On his journey he im printed the marks of his hands upon a rock, and the impression was venerated at the time of the conquest; may not this be the origin of the "mano colerado ?" The emblem of this personage, a snake covered with feathers, is not uncommon on the monuments of Yucatan, and may be seen on several of Mr. Stephens' drawings. These circumstances, in as far as they are of any value, tend to the conclusion that the inhabitants of Yucatan and the Mexican valley were as civilized as the more modern Toltecs. The native country of the Mexicans and Toltecs was beyond doubt to the north-west. Their legislator in returning to his native abode travelled in the opposite direction, to

wards Onohualco or Yucatan, to the south-east.

A curious circumstance mentioned by Mr. Stephens deserves notice. In some vases found in ancient tombs, arrow heads of obsidian were discovered. As there are no volcanoes in Yucatan to produce obsidian, this circumstance, as Mr. Stephens remarks, obviously proves the existence of an intercourse with Mexico, where the above-named material is found in abundance. If we mistake not this opinion may be proved in another way. Columbus in his last and unhappy voy age had all but discovered the peninsula of Yucatan, when by a strange fatality he fell in with a very large trading canoe, which must have sailed from Yucatan on a commercial enterprise. Among the trading goods there were stone razors, (navajos de pedernal,) and also wooden swords, which for a cutting edge were armed with the same razors. These stone razors were doubtless made of obsidian, and procured from Mexico by way of Tobasco, then carried along the coast by the traders of Yucatan.*

We would willingly, if our space permitted, follow Mr. Stephens in his explorations and adventures, especially to the island of Cozumel, interesting in a double point of view as the metropolis of the ancient Maya superstition, and also as the place of rendezvous of the early Spanish adventu rers, Grijalva and others, and the starting place of Cortez on his way to Mexico. We must, however, pass on to make a few observations on the antiquity and uses of these edifices, which are found in such vast num bers every where throughout Yucatan. We fully agree with Mr. Stephens that they were built by the ances tors of the present Indians, and also that they were used as dwellings or places of worship up to the period of the Spanish conquest. When the

*

Spaniards discovered this country it was densely peopled and clear of forests, which now conceal these buildings and often render their discovery very much a matter of chance; it is therefore not surprising that the early adventurers were struck with the beauty and multiplicity of the buildings which every where met their eye. That they were used as places of worship is equally certain, the graphic old writer Bernal Diaz, who had a share in most of the early con quests and voyages, and who may be called the Froissart of America, describes the idols which he saw upon them, and the marks of recent blood of the cruel sacrifices. What is still more to the point, while proceeding with Cortez to the conquest of Mexico, he saw the Indians worshipping on the Cuez or temples of Cozumel, and he assisted in rolling the idols down the steps of the pyramid, and in placing a cross and the picture of the virgin and child in their stead. The carved wood which Mr. Stephens observed in many of these temples and also the paintings still fresh on their walls afford evidence in favour of the same conclusion. In many parts of the country, several years after the conquest, the Indians continued to worship by stealth in the old temples. Father Cogolludo, who wrote more than a century after the conquest, tells us that he found traces of recent idolatry at Uxmal. He found in one of the temples offerings of cacao and copal, used by the Indians as incense, burned there but a short time before; an evidence of some superstition or idolatry recently committed by the Indians of that place. He adds, "God help those poor Indians for the devil deceives them very easily." The same circumstance is brought out by Mr. Stephens, who found in a law paper relating to Uxmal, and bearing the date of 1673

"The property is granted to a Spaniard that idolatry may be discouraged by his residence upon it. It is stated that in those places the Indians were worshipping the devil in the ancient buildings, which they do every day notoriously and publicly-Vol. i. p. 323.'

The only evidence against this conclusion is that of Father Bienvenida, who lived in the country immediately

after its conquest. He tells us the town of Merida received its name on account of its magnificent buildings, the finest in the whole extent of the Indies. We know not who built them, but it appears they are as old as the Chistian era, for says he, "there are trees growing upon them as great in size as those at their base." This objection, however, has been forestalled by Mr. Stephens, who has proved that the ceibo tree, the commonest in the country, attains to a very great size within twenty years. At the same time that we fully agree with Mr. Stephens, as to the fact of the buildings of Yucatan having been erected by the ancestors of the present Indians and occupied by them even to a later period than the time of Columbus, it does not follow that the period of their construction is very recent; on the contrary, we think that they are of a remote antiquity, very probably anterior to the entrance of the Toltec and Mexican tribes into Mexico.

There is a remarkable circumstance connected with the history of Yucatan, which proves that a portion of its people retained their ancient rites, and remained secluded from the notice of the Spaniards for one hundred and sixty years after the invasion of Montejo, until, in the year 1695, they were discovered and subdued. The history of this concealed people may be traced in a tolerably satisfactory manner, and their ancestors identified with one of the most improved and influential tribes which inhabited Yucatan from a period commencing long before the discovery of America. The ruins of Chichen, or Chichen Itza, so called from the name of the people who built them, are among the most splendid described by Mr. Stephens, whether from their extent, or from the variety of their ornaments. According to traditions which have been preserved, and which appear to be genuine as any of the indigenous accounts of early American history, the whole peninsula of Yucatan was formerly ruled by a single sovereign. About one hundred and fifty years before the conquest, a revolution took place, and the dynasty of Tutul Xiu lost their supremacy, and Mayapan, the capital of their empire, was destroyed by the rebels. In consequence of events springing from this insurrection, the Itzas of Chichen emi