American Antiquities: Corroborative of the Book of Mormon (12 May 1860)

AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES,

CORROBORATIVE OF THE BOOK OF MORMON.

(Continued from page 286.)

Having heard the place spoken of as a subterraneous construction, and seeing, when I reached the ground, a half-buried door with a mass of overgrown earth above it, it had not occurred to me to think otherwise ; but on examining outside, I found that what I had taken for an irregular natural formation, like a hill side, was a pyramidal mound of the same general character with all the rest we had seen in the country. . . Heretofore it had been our impression that these mounds [of which he had seen and has described many,] were solid and compact masses of stone and earth, without any chambers or structures of any kind; and the discovery of this gave rise to the exciting idea that all the great mounds scattered over the country contained secret, unknown, and hidden chambers, presenting an immense field for exploration and discovery; and, ruined as the buildings on their summits were, perhaps the only source left for acquiring knowledge of the people by whom the cities were constructed. . . On a line with the back of the Casa del Gobernador rises the high and nameless mound represented in the frontispiece, forming one of the grandest and most imposing structures among all the ruins of Uxmal. It was at that time covered with trees and a thick growth of herbage, which gave a gloominess to its grandeur of proportions; and, but for its regularity and a single belt of sculptured stones barely visible at the top, it would have passed for a wooded and grass-grown hill. Taking some Indians with me, I ascended this mound, and began clearing it for Mr. Catherwood to draw. I found that its vast sides were all incased with stone, in some places richly ornamented, but completely hidden from view by the foliage. The height of this mound was 65 feet, and it measured at the base 300 feet on one side, and 200 on the other. On the top was a great platform of solid stone, three feet high and 75 feet square; and about 15 feet from the top was a narrow terrace running on all four of the sides. The walls of the platform were of smooth stone, and the corners had sculptured ornaments. . . Around the top of the mound was a border of sculptured stone ten or twelve feet high. . . Near the village of Ticul, almost in the suburbs, are the ruin* of another ancient and unknown city. . . A short distance in the rear of the hacienda [of San Francisco] were the ruins of another city, desolate and overgrown, having no name except that of the hacienda on which they stand. At this time a great part of the city was completely hidden by the thick foliage of the trees. Near by, however, several mounds were in full sight, dilapidated, and having fragments of walls on the top. We ascended the highest, which commanded a magnificent view of the great wooded plain, and at a distance the towers of the church of Ticul rising darkly above. The cura told me that in the dry season, when the trees were bare of foliage, he had counted from this point 36 mounds, every one of which had once held aloft a building or temple, and not one now remained entire. Io the great waste of ruins it was impossible to form any idea of what the place had been, except from its vastness and the specimens of sculptured stone seen in the village; but, beyond doubt, it was of the same character as Uxmal, and erected by the same people. Its vicinity to the village had made its destruction more complete. For generations it had served as a mere quarry to furnish the inhabitants with building-stone. . . In the excavations constantly going on, objects of interest were from time to time discovered; one of which, a vase, was . . loaned to us to make a drawing of. . . The engraving below represents two sides of the vase. On one side is a border of hieroglyphics, with sunken lines running to the bottom; and on the other the reader will observe the face portrayed bears a strong resemblance to those of the sculptured and stuccoed figures at Palenque. … On a line with the doorway of the Casa de las Monjas, going north, at the distance of 240 feet, are two ruined edifices facing each other, and seventy feet apart, as laid down on the general plan of the ruins. Each one is 128 feet long and 30 feet deep; and, so far as they can be made out they appear to have been exactly alike in plan and ornament. The sides facing each other were embellished with sculpture, and there remain on both the fragments of entwined colossal serpents, which ran the whole length of the walls. . . Passing between these buildings, and continuing in the same direction, we reach the front of the Casa de las Mojas, or House of the Nuns. This building is quadrangular, with a courtyard in the centre. It stands on the highest of three terraces. . . The front is 279 feet long; and above the cornice, from one end to the other, it is ornamented with sculpture. . . Passing through the arched gateway, we enter a noble courtyard with four great facades looking down upon it each ornamented from one end to the other with the richest and most intricate carving known in the art of the builders of Uxmal, presenting a scene of strange magnificence, surpassing any that is now to be seen among its ruins. . . There are several ranges of buildings standing lower than the House of the Nuns, in irregular order and much ruined. To the first portion of these we gave the name of the House of the Birds, from the circumstance of its being ornamented on the exterior with representations of feathers and birds rudely sculptured. . . The remaining portion consists of some very large rooms, among which are two 53 feet long, 14 broad, and about 20 high, being the largest or at least the widest in Uxmal. In one of them are the remains of painting well preserved. . . . From this range of buildings we descend to the House of the Dwarf, also known by the name of la Casa del Adivino, or the House of the Diviner, from its overlooking the whole city, and enabling its occupant to be cognizant of all that was passing around him. The courtyard of this building is 135 feet by 85. It is bounded by ranges of mounds from 25 to 30 feet thick, now covered with a rank growth of herbage. . . In the centre is a large circular stone, like those seen in the other courtyards, called the Picote. . . A great part of the front presented in the engraving has fallen, and now lies a mass of ruins at the foot of the mound. Along the base, or rather about twenty feet up the mound, and probably once reached by a staircase, now ruined, is a range of curious apartments, nearly choked up with rubbish, and with the sapote beams still in their places over the door at the height of sixty feet is a solid projecting platform, on which stands a building loaded with ornaments more rich, elaborate, and carefully executed than those of any other edifice in Uxmal. . . The front is much ruined, but, even in its decay, presents the most elegant and tasteful arrangement of ornaments to be seen in Uxmal. . . From the top of this mound we pass over the Casa de Gobernador to the grand structure marked on the general plan as the Casa del Palomos, or the House of the Pigeons. . . it is 240 feet long: the front is much ruined. . . In the centre of this building is an archway ten feet wide, which leads into a courtyard 180 feet long and 150 feet deep. . . On the right is a range of ruined buildings, on the left a similar range, and rising behind it the high mound represented in the frontispiece; and in front, at the end of the courtyard, is a range of ruined buildings, with another archway in the centre, crossing the courtyard, and passing through this archway, we ascend a flight of steps, now ruined, and reach another courtyard, 100 feet long by 85 deep. On each side of this courtyard, too, is a range of ruined buildings and at the other end is a great Teccallis, 200 feet in length, 120 deep, and about 50 feet high. A broad staircase leads to the top, on which stands a long narrow building, 100 feet by 20, divided into three apartments. There was a mournful interest about this great pile of ruin6. entering under the great archway, crossing two noble courtyards, with ruined buildings on each side, and ascending the great staircase to the building on the top gave a stronger impression of departed greatness than anything else in this desolate city. It commanded a view of every other building. and stood apart in lonely grandeur, seldom disturbed by human footsteps. . . At the north-east angle of this building is a vast range of high, ruined terraces, facing east and west, nearly 800 feet long at the base, and called the Campo Santo. On one of these is a building of two stories, with some remains of sculpture. . . Besides these, there was the Casa de la Vieja, or the House of the Old Woman, standing in ruins. . . It is four or five hundred feet from the Casa del Gobernador, and has its name from a mutilated statue of an old woman lying before it. Near by are other monuments, overgrown and half buried. . . North of this there is a circular mound of ruins. We set out for another ruined city. It lay on the road to Uxmal, and was the same which I had visited on my first return from Ticul, known by the name of Nohpat. . . One mound rose high above the rest, holding aloft a ruined building.