Show L ti A PT c at C I 1 y L 1 M Is TE 1 I US I 1 ff A 1 1 IP N V ICA P ov 59 A F aljy facade or oil 4 HE second city in point ot of size and importance in ancient Yuca yucatan Laa was 1 1 ala uxmal urmal the capital ot of the ala 1 or r tatul alu family who ruled there almost down to the time of 0 the spanish conquest this city Is located in the midst of 0 a low range of hills which crosses the state ot of yucatan from east to west and 1 la s about miles from chichen itza writes sylvanus G morley in pan american union the derivation of 0 the name gimal uxmal oi or ormal as some borne ot of the early historians wrote it Is rather obscure ob score ox Is the maya word for or three and mal in the same language means to pass asto to pass thrice therefore would seem to be the IV meaning of the word though why the tatul alu should have applied this name to their capital Is unknown concerning the foundation of 0 almal the following tradition Is related by diego de landa the second bishop ot of yucatan who wrote in the first generation after the conquest and who c claims to have gathered his information bronx natives well versed in the former history ot of their country after the discovery and occupation ot of chichen itza which seems to have been the first place of any importance to be settled in yucatan cities sprang up everywhere and there followed an era of great prosperity how flow long these different cities lived at peace with on 02 another we are not told but in time dissensions arose and quarrels became so BO frequent that the different lords of the country found it necessary to take some concerted action in order to suppress violence and to restore order and peace it was then decided to build a joint capital where all those in authority should reside and from which each one agreed to administer the affairs otias of own particular domain without loss of time these plans were carried out A joint capital was built in a new and unoccupied region and was maayan Ma apan meaning the standard of the file mayas thither all the lords assembled and as the final step in the formation of the new confederacy an overlord one cocom was elected and duly installed in the new capital as the supreme ruler these cucuta laid the foundation for an era of prosperity which endured tor for many years later after an interval not specified by landa in his history there entered the country from the south an alien people under the leadership of their chief tatul atu the newcomers previous to their arrival had wandered tor for 40 years year in the wilderness without water other than that which had fallen from the skies this coincidence of a 40 years wandering in the wilderness Is sufficiently striking to arouse the suspicion that the worthy bishop in this part of his narrative has been at some borne pains to force a pious coincidence with a similar episode in the old testament immediately after their arrival the wanderers began building in the mountains not 30 miles distant from the capital a new home tor for themselves which they called uxmal urmal far from being angered however by this appropriation of his territory so near at hand cocom the tha ruler of the cayapan May apan welcomed tatul alu and his people and entered into an alliance with them landa thus describes the event the people of cayapan formed a great friendship with the tatul alu rejoicing to see that they cultivated the land like themselves in this manner the tatul afu became subject to the laws of cayapan May rf ayapan apan and allied themselves with the older inhabitants of the country and their lord was highly esteemed by all judging from its size and magnificence tha atu capital must have played a very important role in the history of yucatan before the spanish conquest indeed landa says as much after a time we are told the supreme power held by the cocom family deemi to have turned their heads they became successively more and more oppressive each striving to outdo his predecessors in acts ot of tyranny and violence however there came a day at last when the other othe chiefs of the confederacy could no longer endure this despotic rule and a conspiracy was hatched to overthrow the oppressor with one accord the conspirators turned to the then lord of ux mat mal a defendent of the original tatul alu who had founded the city as aa the natural leader in this movement for liberty in spite of the fact that he was of foreign descent ile he Is described as having been a true friend of the public weal as his ancestors before him all of whom had held resolutely aloof from the tyrannies tyrannizes tyr annies of the cocom family on an appointed day the conspirators led by the lord of uxmal urmal met at cayapan May apan and entering the palace of cocom slew him and a all 11 his progeny save one son only who happened to be ba absent from the city at the time on a mission to a distant province after this sanguinary reprisal which avenged at one blow the op pres of many years the property of the dead ruler was seized and divided among his murder ira firs and the capital was destroyed whereupon each chief departed into his own country once more and the confederacy was dissolved after the destruction of cayapan May apan the tatul atu abandoned uxmal urmal and founded a new capital some 30 miles distant which they called mani meaning in maya alaya it Is passed emphasizing by this name that the old order was over these events oo 00 furred about the middle ot of the fifteenth century P V Z 7 k 11 C 7 4 X r N y ar nc stomer a or some soma 70 years before tho the spanish first landed in yucatan but even after the conquest the alus in their new home continued to exercise considerable authority over the tha ni natives tives and their friendly attitude toward the spanish greatly facilitated cilita ted the final pacification of 0 the country the ruins of uxmal urmal are best reached today by stage from the he little town of muna the nearest railroad station A ten mile drive from the latter place brings one to the tha hacienda of uxmal urmal from which the ruins are about a mile and a halt distant the first view of the ancient city Is to be had from the top of a hill just behind the plantation house across the plain a dozen or more imposing structures of white limestone may be seen rising above the dense vegetation which here en shrouds the countryside beyond in the distance a ragged chain of low mountains cuts across the horizon each succeeding ridge a deeper blue but one does not dwell long on the beauties of nature at uxmal urmal the habitations ot of a bygone race claim the attention descending the hill again one takes the road which leads through the bush the distant temples and palaces sink below the tree tops and tor for aught that one sees of them they might as well be on the other side of the world after a halt half hours walk during which the ruins never once reappear the road suddenly makes a sharp turn to the right and just in front of 0 one apparently blocking the way there rises a lofty pyramid the highest structure in the city the splendid temple surmounting this grotesquely tes quely called the house of the dwarf or magician probably was the chief sanctuary of ux mal the pyramid on which it stands Is over 80 feet high and covers nearly an acre of ground the summit Is reached by a steep stairway on its east and apparently back side bide the temple however faces in the opposite direction or toward the monjas honjas quadrangle an adjacent group of structures with which as we presently shall see it was closely connected clear down into spanish times long after uxmal urmal had been abandoned by her native rulers this temple was held in particular veneration by the indians about a century after the conquest con quent father cogolludo Cogol ludo provincial of yucatan visited uxmal urmal and climbed to the summit of this pyramid ile he found there he says in one of 0 the apartments offerings of cacao and the remains of copal burned but a short time before this he thought indicated that some superstition or idolatry had been committed here recently by tho the indians of the locality and again slightly later in 1673 a petition addressed to the king of spain says that the indians in those places uxmal urmal are worshiping the devil in the ancient buildings which are there having in them their idols to which they burn copal and perform other detestable sacrifices long after the conquest no doubt the natives continued to practice in secret their ancient rites and ceremonies particularly at those places which formerly had been sacred or holy to thorn them it was to some such survivals of the ancient ceremonial a and nd ritual that the above citations probably ablit refer the monjas honjas quadrangle mentioned above as being adjacent to the house housa of the dwarf Is in tact fact separated from it only by a small court the tha four low massive buildings of which it is composed are built around the sides of a square and with the exception of the house on tap th south side aide all stand on low platforms or terraces reached by broad stairways extending e across a c r 0 B B their fronts the rooms of 0 abi group of which there are upward of 0 loo are entered tor for the most part by door doorways opening onto the terraces which surround the court A lew few however in the south ho house use open exteriorly with reference to the group this same side of the quadrangle la is further differentiated from the other three by the presence nee ot of an arcade passing through the middle wale which la leads from the court to the outside this passageway doubtless was the main entrance to the group in ancient times and establishes the direction from which it was approached the tour four houses bouses of the honjas monjas quadrangle differ very greatly in their character and probably in their fun unction action as well from the house of 0 the dwart dwarf near by the buildings ot of the stand upon low platforms plat and have many rooms the latter on the other hand surmounts a lofty pyramid and only has three rooms the first because ot of the greater number r and accessibility ace ot of its chambers Is better fitted for or use as aa a dwelling dw ell place for or a body of priests than it the ie second 4 the second beca because ot of its commanding elevation elev atio n and fewer ewer chambers Is better adapted for use as a place of 0 worship chilt the first the close connection between and yet so complementary types so different who officiated the priests strongly indicates that the house 0 of whom in the service e 0 of the god to lived in the rooms of consecrated the dwarf was two groups the tha quadrangle the the monjas honjas lotty lofty pyramid temple and the low multi celled combi monastery together form a well balanced nation passing out through the arcade ot of the south house and leaving the honjas monjas quadrangle behind one descends by three terraces partly artificial and partly natural to the level ot of the plain A few paces to the south may be seen two large parallel walls 70 teet feet apart each feet wide 30 teet feet thick and about 20 teet feet high these two constructions are the sides ot of the uxmal urmal ball court the ends being open in the center of 0 each at ends directly opposite there had been fastened originally a great stone ring tour four teet feet in diameter both 0 of these however are now broken and lie in fragments at the bases ot of their respective walls beyond the ball court there Is a high terrace or platform covering over three aar acres es of ground and rising 23 feet above the plain this supports a second and smaller terrace 19 feet high from which rises the so called governors palace the most magnificent example of ancient american architecture extant today behind the governors palace end and on the tower of its two terraces Is the so called house 0 of the turtles another very important building at uxmal urmal la Is the house of 0 the pigeons so named married because of the fancied resemblance of its root crest to a dovecot the structures described above are by no means all that remains of this ancient city truth Is that the jungle on every side tor for so some me little distance hides bides the wrecks 0 of once imposing build ings their presence now only to be detected by clumps 0 of vegetation rising slightly higher than the general level of the plain these buildings and their substructures have been literally torn asunder by trees which have driven their roots into them and pried apart the masonry creepers vines and bushes have so overgrown their sides that they look like wooded hillocks only on close examination does their real character appear and tt it remains tor for the imagination to reconstruct their former glory but all this ancient life this great city once teeming with its tolling thousands is gone palaces and temples glisten in the sunlight with never the tread of sandaled foot echoing through their empty courts nor chant ot of white hite robed priests sacrificing to offended gods goda perchance a bird may flutter through some ruined doorway chirping for its mate or buzzard circling high soar above prospective prey save these all else Is silent dead the ancient pomp and glory forever departed and gods and men alike forgotten in the onward sweep of time |