Rambles in Yucatan; or, Notes of Travel Through the Peninsula: Including a Visit to the Remarkable Ruins of Chi-Chen, Kabah, Zayi, and Uxmal. 2nd edNorman, Benjamin Moore
History
Rambles in Yucatan; or, Notes of Travel Through the Peninsula: Including a Visit to the Remarkable Ruins of Chi-Chen, Kabah, Zayi, and Uxmal. 2nd ed
In the neighborhood of Campeachy are many ruins which richly deserve the
attention of travellers, but which the time to which my short excursion
was limited, would not permit me the gratification of visiting to any
extent. Upon a small river near Champoton, some leagues inland, where it
enlarges to a very considerable lake, are situated many ruins of a kind
of sculpture displaying the finest taste; but the edifices are so buried
beneath the water and earth that surround them, that it would require
great labor and perseverance to investigate them. Four leagues to the
north of Campeachy there exist many tumuli, which cannot be visited
during the rainy season without much risk and inconvenience. Three
leagues farther north is a little peninsula, called Jaina. Here is
situated a very large tumulus, around which have been found a number of
small earthen figures, and some flint heads of lances, very finely
formed. To the antiquarian and the curious this ruin presents many
attractions.
From this tumulus, and other places contiguous to ruins of immense
cities, in the vicinity of Campeachy, were procured among the crumbling
walls, some skeletons and bones that have evidently been interred for
ages, also a collection of idols, fragments, flint spearheads, and axes;
besides sundry articles of pottery-ware, well wrought, glazed, and
burnt.
These interesting relics are now in the possession of the author. The
reader will observe the Engravings of the most important, and those that
are in the most perfect state of preservation.
Plates No. I., II., and III., are correct designs of the Idols, which
are supposed to have been the household gods of the people who inhabited
these regions. They are hollow, and contain balls about the size of a
pea, that are supposed to be formed of the ashes of the victims that
have been sacrificed to the particular god in which they are deposited.
Plate No. IV. represents fragments composed of the same material as the
Idols. Whether these were intended for the same, or ornaments to their
vessels, I am unable to decide.
Plate No. V. represents the designs of the pots and vessels of the
collection, which were probably used as burners in the performance of
religious rites and ceremonies.
Plate No. VI. represents a Turtle, beautifully wrought in a fine hard
earthy substance. This figure, by its frequent appearance throughout the
ruins of Yucatan, was undoubtedly one of great importance, either from
its religious or civil associations. This plate also represents an
earthen pan, well wrought, (apparently turned in a lathe,) and glazed,
which was probably one of their household utensils; also a stone
pounder, which was probably used in the same department.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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