CHAPTER II.CENTRAL AMERICA.

CONTENTS.

Historical Notice—Central American style—Temples—Palaces—Buildings at Palenque—Uxmal, &c.

TheValley of Mexico, in which the first group of buildings we have to describe is situated, is a small tract in the centre of the table-land of Anahuac. Though not larger than Yorkshire, and one-third of it permanently under water, it was, at the time we first became acquainted with it, divided into three or four small States, which, notwithstanding continual wars among themselves, had managed to acquire a considerable degree of material prosperity. After making every allowance for the exaggeration of the Spanish and native historians, the remains of the Aztec capitals attest an amount of population and a degree of organisation which it is impossible to overlook or deny, and it seems that it was at their last moment that this development was greatest; for, immediately before the Spanish Conquest, all the States of the valley, tired of their ruinous wars, had joined their forces together, and, thus combined, proved more than a match for any of the surrounding States. They spread their arms and influence to the Mexican Gulf, penetrated to the shores of the Pacific, and on one occasion are even said to have crossed the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and reached the confines of Guatemala. These last expeditions seem to have been undertaken merely to obtain prisoners for their horrid rites of human sacrifice, of which they were becoming passionately fond; and they made no settlement in these countries sufficient to influence either their arts or institutions in any way. Shortly after this, the conquest of the Spaniards under Cortes put an end to the kingdom and power of the Aztecs for ever.

The principal monuments of the valley are the Teocallis—literally Houses of God—the Temples of the people. These are pyramids in terraces with flat tops, and always surmounted by a chamber or cell which is in fact the temple itself. They seem to be of all ages, for if one may trust the tradition, that of Cholulu is as old as the early Toltecs, whereas the great teocalli of the city of Mexico was only finished five years before the discovery of America by Columbus, and the Spaniards met with many persons who had assisted in its erection. It has, however, with all the nativebuildings of the city, beenswept away by the ruthless bigotry of the conquerors. Independent of its own interest, this is the more to be regretted, as the possession of a single monument of authentic date would form a starting-point for our investigations and serve as a check on all our theories.

Of these teocallis, the largest, probably also the oldest, is that of Cholulu. Its dimensions, in so far as they can be ascertained in its present ruinous state, are 1440 ft. square and 177 ft. in height, divided in four storeys, the fifth being formed by the cell or temple, which has now been replaced by a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The whole is composed of badly-burnt bricks and mud, and is now so overgrown with trees that it is difficult to make out its form, but in Humboldt’s time it apparently was freer from obstruction and more easily traced.

There are two pyramids at Teotihuacan, the largest of which is apparently a square of 645 ft., with a height of 171, and there are others at Tezcuco of about the same dimensions, and, like them, divided into five or seven storeys, but the most interesting of those yet brought to light is that of Xochicalco. It is situated on the top of what appears to be a natural elevation, but which has been fashioned into terraces by art. The pyramid itself is in five storeys, the stone facing of the three upper of which has been removed to repair a sugar-mill in quite recent times, but the two lower still retain their sculptures and architectural ornaments. Mr. Tylor gives the date of 945 to this building,[180]and there does not seem to be any reason for doubting its general correctness. If it is so, the possession of photographs of its bas-reliefs and cornices would go far to clear up half the difficulties which beset the question.[181]One monument in the middle of the series with sculptural and architectural details, and an authentic date, is nearly all that is required for the purpose.

1015. Pyramid of Oajaca, Tehuantepec. (From the ‘Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge.’)

Besides these great many-storeyed pyramids there are numerous examples in various parts of the country, of one storey only; several of these have been described, but unfortunately not drawn. Their general arrangement may, however, be judged of from the annexed example from Oajaca.Like all others in Mexico, it is only a device to raise a temple to such a height as should give it dignity and enable the ceremonies performed on its upper platform to be seen by all the people.

It is indispensably necessary to bear this distinction in mind, in speaking of these monuments, as careless writers, connecting the word Pyramid with Egypt, have been too apt to confound together two classes of monuments entirely distinct and dissimilar. The Egyptian pyramid is always a tomb. The principal object of its erection is in the sepulchral chamber in its centre. It always terminates upwards in a point. In no instance are there external steps leading to a cell or chamber on the apex. In fact, they were always tombs; never temples. The Assyrian pyramids, on the contrary, have much more affinity with the buildings of which we are now speaking. They were always in terraces, the upper platform was always crowned by a chamber or cell, and there were external steps leading to this, which was the principal object of the erection. In investigating the history of Eastern art this form of temple has been traced from Mesopotamia to the shores of the Eastern Ocean. If we still, however, hesitate to pronounce that there was any connection between the builders of the pyramids of Suku and Oajaca, or the temples of Xochicalco and Boro Buddor, we must at least allow that the likeness is startling and difficult to account for on the theory of mere accidental coincidence.

One thing, at all events, seems clear. If we are at any time to trace a connection between the architecture of the New and the Old World it is in the direction above indicated that light is to be looked for. At all events it seems as if it could not now be long before we ascertain whether any connection did exist between the arts of the two continents, or whether we may regard that of America as wholly indigenous.

1016. Plan of Temple at Mitla. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.

Almost, however, as if to warn us to beware of jumping too rapidly to conclusions of this class, we meet in Mexico occasionally with such a monument as that at Mitla, which is so entirely original as to defy the stoutest advocate to find an associate for it. As will be seen from the annexed plan, it consists of a portico, measuring 160 ft. across, its roof supported by a row of six pillars down the centre, and having behind it a square building, measuring about 65 ft. each way, in the centre of which is a court with four apartments opening into it, the entrances of which are so arranged as to secure the utmost amount of privacy. Originally there appear to have been four such buildings, arranged round a courtyard, but only one is now perfect.If, however, the plan is original, the style of ornamentation is still more so. The walls slope outwards, which is not the case in any other known building. The panels are filled with frets and forms such as are only found in Mexico, and are entirely unlike anything found elsewhere; and the whole building is such, that if it stood alone, or all Mexican buildings were like it, we should at once be obliged to admit that the style was entirely original, and formed without any connection with the older world.

Its use is said to be sepulchral, and there are underground chambers which would countenance that belief, according to our views. In hot climates, however, subterranean apartments are appropriate rather to the living, and are, when met with, generally the best in the house; so that, without some more evidence, it would appear rather to be a palace, which the arrangement of its internal chambers and its whole appearance would more certainly indicate. Its age is not known, but in the Aztec paintings executed immediately before, and in some instances subsequently to, the conquest, the same forms and the same style of decoration constantly appear. This is not conclusive, for the same architectural forms may in this country have prevailed throughout, for anything we know; but judging by the rules of European criticism, the building does not date from long before the time of the conquest.

1017. View of the Palace at Mitla. (From ‘Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge,’ vol. ix.)

Whenever a stable government is established in that unhappycountry, and the artist and photographer are enabled to pursue their occupations in security and at leisure, it is to be hoped that materials will become available for completing this chapter of our history. At present, it must remain nearly a blank, because so few representations of Mexican monuments exist on which reliance can be placed.

It is extremely difficult to determine whether it is owing to their original paucity, or to their destruction by the Spaniards, that the monuments in the province of Mexico are now so few and far between. If we may judge from the glowing descriptions of the conquerors, and the analogy of the remains in Yucatan, we may almost certainly ascribe their disappearance to the bigotry or the avarice of the Europeans. Be this as it may, it is certain that the moment we pass the southern boundary of Mexico and enter the peninsula generally known as Yucatan, which for our present purpose must be considered as including Costa Rica, we find a province as rich in architectural remains as any of the same extent in the Old World, not even excepting Cambodia, which is the one it most nearly resembles. In this region Messrs. Stephens and Catherwood visited and described between fifty and sixty old cities; and, if we may trust native reports, there are others in the centre of the land even more important than these, but which have not been visited by any European in modern times. Of the cities described by these travellers, Uxmal, Palenque, Kabah, Chichen Itza, and others, are really magnificent. The first-named almost rivals Ongcor in splendour and extent, though it falls far short of it in the elegance or beauty of detail of its buildings.

As before hinted, there seems no reason for dissenting from the conclusion Messrs. Stephens and Catherwood arrived at regarding their age. It is deliberately expressed by the last-named author in his folio work (page 8) in the following terms:—“I do not think we should be safe in ascribing to any of the monuments which retain their forms a greater age than from 800 to 1000 years; and those which are perfect enough to be delineated I think it is likely are not more than from 400 to 600 years old.” In other words, they belong to the great building epoch of the world—the 13th century, or a little before or after that time.[182]It seems more than probable, therefore,that the great buildings at Uxmal are contemporary with the temples of Nakhon Wat and Hullabeed, and the cathedrals of Rheims and Toledo. Whether or not there was any communication direct or indirect between these buildings, which are geographically so remotely distant, is another question, to which no satisfactory answer can be given in the present state of our knowledge, and if any is attempted it must be a negative one.[183]

1018. Elevation of Teocalli at Palenque. Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.

1019. Plan of Temple. Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.

As in Mexico, the principal monument of Yucatan is the Teocalli. In the latter province, however, they seem to differ somewhat in design from those above described. They are not generally in terraces, but rise, at an angle of about 45°, to the level of the platform on which the temple stands; and a magnificent unbroken flight of steps leads from the base of the building to its summit. Almost all these retain more or less of the remains of architectural magnificence that once adorned their summits. The annexed Woodcut, No.1018, representing the elevation of a temple at Palenque (the plan of which is shown below), supported by a pyramid, will give a good general idea of their form. The pyramid is about 280 ft. square, and 60 ft. in height: on the top of it stands the temple, 76 ft. wide in front and 25 ft. deep, ornamented in stucco with bassi-relievi of better execution than is usually found in these parts, and with large hieroglyphicaltablets, whose decipherment, were it possible, would probably reveal to us much of the history of these buildings.

The roof is formed by approaching courses of stone meeting at the summit, and following the same outline externally, with curious projections on the outside, like dormer windows, but meant apparently either for ornament or as pedestals for small idols, or for some similar purpose.

The other temples found in Yucatan differ but little from this one, except in size, and, architecturally speaking, are less interesting than the palaces—the splendour of the temple consisting in the size of its pyramid, to which the superstructure is only the crowning member; in the palace, on the other hand, the pyramid is entirely subordinate to the building it supports, forming merely an appropriate and convenient pedestal, just sufficient to give it a proper degree of architectural effect.

In speaking of the palaces it would be most important, and add very much to the interest of the description, if some classification could be made as to their relative age. The absence of all traces of history makes this extremely difficult, and the only mode that suggests itself is to assume that those buildings which show the greatest similarity to wooden construction in their details are the oldest, and that those in which this peculiarity cannot be traced are the more modern.

This at least is certainly the case in all other countries of the world where timber fit for building purposes can be procured; there men inevitably use the lighter and more easily worked vegetable material long before they venture on the more durable but far more expensive mineral substance, which ultimately supersedes it to so great an extent. Even in Egypt, in the age of the pyramid builders, the ornamental architecture is copied in all its details from wooden constructions. In Greece, when the art reached its second stage, the base is essentially stone, and the upper part only copied in stone from the earlier wooden forms; and so it was apparently in Mexico; the lower part of the buildings is essentially massive stone-work, the upper part is copied from forms and carvings that must originally have been executed in wood, and are now repeated in stone.

The following Woodcut, No.1020, of Chunjuju, for instance, represents in its simplest form what is repeated in almost all these buildings—a stone basement with square doorways, but without windows, surmounted by a superstructure evidently a direct copy of woodwork, and forming part of the construction of the roof.

In most cases in Yucatan the superstructure is elaborately carved with masks, scrolls, and carvings similar to those seen on the prows of the war-boats, or in the Moraïs or burying-places of the Polynesian islanders.

1020. Elevation of Building at Chunjuju. (From a Drawing by F. Catherwood.)

Sometimes pillars are used, and the wooden construction is carried even lower down, though mixed in that case with parts of essentially lithic form. Barring the monstrosity of the carvings, there is often, as in the palace at Zayi (Woodcut No.1021), a degree of elegance in the design by no means to be despised, more especially when, as in this instance, the building rises in a pyramidal form in three terraces, the one within and above the other, the lowest, as shown in the plan (Woodcut No.1022), being 260 ft. in length, by 110 ft. in width. This, though far from being the largest of these palaces, is one of the most remarkable, as its terraces, instead of being mere flights of steps, all present architectural façades, rising one above the other. The upper and central tier may possibly have been a seven-celled temple, and the lower apartments appropriated to the priests, but it is more probable that they were all palaces, the residences of temporal chiefs, inasmuch as at Uxmal a pyramidal temple is attached to the building called the Casa del Gubernador, which is extremely similar to this, though on a still larger and more ornate scale. There are other instances of the palace and temple standing together.

1021. Elevation of part of Palace at Zayi. (From a Drawing by F. Catherwood.)

Sometimes, instead of the buildings standing within and above each other, as in the last example, they are arranged around a courtyard, as in that called the Casa de las Monjas at Uxmal (Woodcut No.1023), one of the most remarkable buildings in Central America, for its size, as well as for the elaborateness of its decorations. It is raised on three low terraces, reaching a total height of 20 ft. The block to the south, 260 ft. long, is pierced by a triangular-headed gateway, 10 ft. 8 in. wide, leading to a courtyard, measuring upwards of 200 ft. each way, and surrounded on all sides by buildings, as shown in the plan; which, though only one storey in height, from their size and the elaborateness of their decorations, form one of the most remarkable groups of buildings in the world.

1022. Plan of Palace at Zayi. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.

1023. Casa de las Monjas, Uxmal. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.

In the same city is the other building, just referred to, called the Casa del Gubernador, somewhat similar to the principal of the three edifices composing the Casa de las Monjas, but larger and even moreelaborate in its decorations. It stands alone, however, with only a temple attached unsymmetrically to one angle of it.

With regard to construction, as above remarked, the style may be generally characterized as one remove from the original wooden construction of early times. No wooden buildings, or even wooden roofs, now remain, nor could any have been expected to resist the effects of the climate; but many of the lintels of the doorways were formed by wooden beams, and some of these still remain, though most of them have perished, bringing down with them large portions of the walls which were supported by them. In other instances, and generally speaking in those that seem most modern, the upper parts of the doorways, as well as the roofs of the chambers, are formed by bringing the courses nearer together till they meet in the centre, thus forming a horizontal arch, as it is called, precisely as the Etruscans and all the earlier tribes of Pelasgic race did in Europe at the dawn of civilisation, and as is done in India to this day. This form is well shown in the annexed woodcut, representing a chamber in the Casa de las Monjas at Uxmal, 13 ft. wide. The upper part of the doorway on the right hand has fallen in, from its wooden lintel having decayed.

1024. Interior of a Chamber, Uxmal. (From a Drawing by F. Catherwood.)

A still more remarkable instance of this mode of construction is shown in the Woodcut No.1025, representing a room in a temple at Chichen Itza in Yucatan. The room is 19 ft. 8 in. by 12 ft. 9 in.; in the centre of it stand two pillars of stone, supporting beams of sapote-wood, which also forms the lintels of the door, and over these is the stone vaulting of the usual construction: the whole apparently still perfect and entire, though time-worn, and bearing the marks of as great age as any of the other buildings of the place.

When the roof was constructed entirely of wood, it probably partook very much of the same form, the horizontal beam being supported by two struts meeting at the centre, and framed up at the sides, which would at once account for the appearances shown in the Woodcuts Nos.1020,1021. It is also probable that both light and air wereintroduced above the walls, between the interstices of the wood-work; which is further confirmed by the strange erection on the top of the Casa at Palenque (Woodcut No.1018), where the openings look very like the copy of a ventilator of some sort.

1025. Apartment at Chichen Itza. (From a Drawing by F. Catherwood.)

It is, of course, impossible to ascribe any very remote antiquity to buildings containing so much wood in their construction, and erected in a climate so fatal to the durability of any class of buildings whatever. In addition to this, it must be borne in mind that the bas-reliefs are generally in stucco, which, however good, is still a very perishable material, and also that the painting on these and on the walls is still bright and fresh. In such a climate as that of Egypt no argument could be drawn from these circumstances; but in a country subject to tropical rains and the heat and dryness of a tropical summer the marvel is that they should have lasted four or five centuries, and still more that they should have resisted so long the very destructive powers of vegetation. Taking all these circumstances together, the epoch of their erection does not seem a matter of doubt, and all that remains for the elucidation of their history is that they should be arranged in a sequence during the six or eight centuries which may have intervened between the erection of the oldest and the most modern of these mysterious monuments.

1026. Diagram of Mexican construction.

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